Megabot
by LairdStewart98
Summary: Hiro Hamada is one the US's most brilliant geniuses in robotics, and the richest weapons manufacturer in the world. However, tragedy strikes, and Hiro must use his technology to protect the innocent and those closest to him. Canon with my Disney/Non-Disney MCU AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to Afghanistan**

Hiro Hamada was bored.

He was bored, uncomfortably warm, and he had no one who wanted to talk to him.

He was currently sitting in the back of a military Hummer, nursing a glass of brandy in his hand, with a radio blaring the latest Fall Out Boy tune. He was dressed in a navy blue three-piece suit, buttons all undone, his black hair naturally dishevelled as if he had just rolled out of bed.

Also, he was in Afghanistan, did we mention that?

Hiro was a genius billionare playboy philanthropist. At age twenty-two, he was the head of Hamada Industries and the richest weapons manufacturer in the world. For you see Hiro was a mechanical prodigy, and made advancements in technology that would boggle the mind of any lesser man, and that made his weapons and inventions the most coveted devices on the planet.

Despite all this, he still had not yet created a cure for boredom.

"Come on guys" he exclaimed to the three soldiers he currently shared Hummer-space with "Can someone talk? I feel like I'm off to a court martial" More awkward silence followed "Are you not allowed to talk?"

"We can talk sir" came the quiet reply of the soldier sitting beside him.

"So it's personal then?"

"No" spoke the soldier in the drivers seat "You intimidate them"

"Good God, you're a woman" Hiro's jaw dropped "I honestly... How did I not notice? I could not have called that"

The soldiers broke out into suppressed smiles.

"I'd apologise, but I don't think it really matters" Hiro continued "I mean that's how soldiers go: soldier first, gender second. Right?"

"I'm an airman" the driver corrected him.

"You actually have a really nice face" Hiro kept talking "I'm surprised I never noticed that. I'm having a really hard time not looking at you now, is that weird?" Spying the smiles of his fellow passengers, Hiro smirked as well "Come on, laugh. You're allowed to laugh"

"Sir" the soldier in the passenger seat spoke up for the first time "I have a question to ask"

"Fire away" Hiro smiled

"Is it true you went 12-for-12 with last years Maxim cover models?"

Hiro barked a small laugh "Actually yes. No. Technically. I had a falling out with March. Never got it on, but the Christmas cover did have twins" He waited until they were done chuckling before he asked "Any other questions?"

The soldier beside him raised his hand, as if he were in a classroom.

"You're kidding me with the hand up, right?" Hiro said.

"Can I take a picture with you?"

Hiro smiled his signature gap-toothed grin "Sure"

With a childish smile, the man passed his camera to his fellow soldier before sliding up right next to the young billionare.

"Now I don't want to see this on your twitter page or anything, alright?" Hiro whispered "Put your hand down, no gang-signs. Just kidding, you can have gang-signs"

The driver couldn't help but laugh as her two comrades fumbled with the camera.

Then the Hummer in front exploded.

Hiro nearly soiled himself as the Hummer came to a screeching halt "What's going on?" he asked, a frantic edge to his voice.

"Contact left!" The driver shouted.

"What does that mean?" Hiro panicked.

The driver left the Hummer, only to immediately drop dead as a bullet found its lethal mark.

"Jimmy!" The soldier in the passenger seat spoke to his teamate "Stay here! Protect Hamada!"

"Stay down!" Jimmy the soldier said, grabbing Hiro the shoulder and forcing him to lay along the seat.

The second soldier left out his door, using the Hummer itself as cover. All in vain however as the still unseen attackers shot him dead.

"Son of a bitch!" Jimmy exclaimed, opening the door to join the fray.

"Wait!" Hiro called to him "At least leave me a gun!"

"Stay here!" Jimmy ordered. He closed the door and turned to face the attackers, just then a bomb went off, and he was immediately torn to pieces by shrapnel.

Hiro swore in horror and shock, bailing out of the Hummer and running for cover as several other soldiers died like flies behind him. He dove behind a sizeable rock, and brought out his phone.

"Please work, please work" He silently pleaded as he tried to text and SOS to his friend.

His frantic typing was halted by the thud of something landing beside him. The beeping that emanated from the same spot told all he needed to know. He quickly rose, but not before the bomb exploded and he was sent flying.

Hiro hit the ground hard. His ears ringing, he tried to rise to his feet only to fall down again. Raising a heavy hand to his throbbing head, Hiro's blurried vision could make out the blood that now stained his hand.

The last thing he thought before he blacked out was: How did I get here?

Because when his day started that day, he had no idea that his life would be changed forever...

* * *

 **Authors Note**

So this will be the first in a long line of MCU-based non/Disney fanfics I'll be writing. This one will basically star characters most prominently found in Disney's Big Hero 6 and DreamWorks' Home, following the plotline of Iron Man.

Note than my previous fanfic "Rise of the Guardians of the Galaxy" is _non-canon_ tothis story's (and all the others that will come after it) universe.

If you like it or feel like criticising and crushing my dreams, please leave a review. They're always welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Beginning of the Beginning**

The last thing Hiro thought before he blacked out was: How did I get here?

Because when his day had started, he had no idea that his life would be changed forever.

* * *

 ** _36 Hours Earlier_**

Hiro was in Las Vegas. He was set to recieve the Apogee Award for all his scientific achievements. Everyone would be there: His military liaison and best friend Ethel "Gogo" Tomago, his mentor and business advisor Robert Callaghan and about a hundred other aspiring scientists, policticians and party-goers.

Hiro however wasn't there. He was in the casino playing craps.

"Work it!" he yelled as he threw the dice across the table, before turning to flirt with the supermodel currently clinging to his right arm.

"You are unbelievable" said a woman's voice from behind him. A voice he had come to both love and dread.

Gogo. She was a petite woman of Korean descent, clad in a dark purple dress (which she hated) to match the purple streaks in her hair. Her attractive face was a mask of annoyance, her eyes a glare that she probably used to intimidate her fellow military men, but Hiro just found it amusing.

"What's up Gogo?" Hiro asked as innocently as a man could.

"The award" she put it bluntly.

Hiro's face fell for a moment "Oh, did they rope you into this?"

"No one roped me into anything" Gogo snapped "They said if I presented you with an award, you'd be deeply honoured"

"And I would be" Hiro said "So when are we we doing..." The question died in his throat as Gogo unceremoniously handed him the award "That was easy"

"It was fifteen minutes ago" Gogo explained

"I'm so sorry" he apologised.

Hiro face immediately perked up "I know what!" he said as he gave the award to the lady-friend on his right with a quick "Hold that for me babe". "We're gonna let it ride!" he called "You get anything I win" he said to Gogo "How's that for an apology"

Gogo's eyes rolled with amusement as Hiro asked the girl to blow on his dice "for luck". "Your turn" he said to Gogo with an outstretched hand.

"I'm not blowing on your dice" Gogo refused, chuckling as he persisted. Having enough, she smacked the dice out of his hand and they went rolling across the table.

"Gogo rolls!" Hiro announced, before his face fell.

"That's what happens" Gogo stated.

"Worse things have happened to me" Hiro shrugged "We'll be fine"

So Hiro said his farewell to Gogo, giving her some of his winnings as an apology, gave his award away to the nearest man in a toga ("Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's") and left for his car, where his bodyguard and chaperone Fred Lee awaited.

"Mr Hamada! Excuse me, Mr Hamada!" came a voice from behind him. "Vidia Clarion, Vanity Fair magazine" she explained as she was blocked by a pair of bodyguards "Can I ask you a few questions?"

"She cute?" Hiro whispered to Fred. Fred's wiggling eyebrows was all he needed to know. Spinning on his heel, he turned and said "Of course" with a gap-toothed smile.

Vidia's first question was "You've been called the da Vinci of our time. Do you have anything to comment on that?"

"That's stupid" Hiro answered "I don't paint"

"And what about your other nickname: The merchant of death"

"That's sounds pretty cool" Hiro smiled.

The young reporter eyes widened a little "Seriously?"

"Well, yeah" Hiro said "Our world isn't perfect, but it's the only one we have. I guarantee you Ms Clarion, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making car batteries and microwaves"

"That sounded rehearsed" Vidia noted.

"Of course it was" Hiro said with a straight face "Every night before bed. right in front of the mirror"

"Can I get a serious answer?" Vidia asked.

"Okay, here's serious" Hiro spoke "My father had a philosophy, a kind of law-of-the-jungle kind of rule. Peace only exists when no one wants to pick on you, in order for that to happen you need to have the biggest stick in the jungle"

"Says the guy selling the sticks" Vidia snarked.

"My father helped defeat the Nazis and he worked on the Manhattan Project" Hiro claimed "A lot of people, including some of your friends at Vanity Fair I'd bet, would call that being a hero"

"And a lot of people would call that war profiteering" Vidia argued.

"Tell me," Hiro spoke, taking his shades off for added gravitas "Do you plan to report on the millions that we've saved with our advancements in medical technology or kept from starvation with our own GMCs? All of those breakthroughs were possible _only_ because of military funding"

"Have you ever lost an hour of sleep in your life?"

"I'd be prepared to lose a few with you" Hiro smiled.

"Is that so?" Vidia said with raised eyebrows.

Needless to say, what happened over the course of the next few hours were certainly not safe for work.

* * *

Vidia woke up alone to the sound of a man's voice speaking over an intercom. Clad in Hiro's shirt from the night before, she ventured throughout his manor looking for him.

Eventually she came across some kind of computer attached to the wall. Her curiousity winning out, the reporter tapped the touchscreen with her finger.

"You are not allowed to access this area!" came a loud voice, startling the young woman.

"That's just Oh" came a voice from behind Vidia. Turning she came face-to-face with a young woman in her mid-twenties at most. Her hair was a mess of brown curls tied into a bun and her skin was a rich coffee brown. Her green eyes glittered with amusement.

"Oh?" Vidia repeated.

"He's the computer system that runs the house" the other woman explained. She offered Vidia a bag "These are your clothes. They've been dry-cleaned and pressed and I have a car ready to take you wherever you like"

Vidia took the bag with a smile "You must be the famous Gratuity Tucci"

"Indeed I am" Gratuity "Tip" Tucci nodded with a smile.

"After all these years, Hiro still has you picking up the dry-cleaning" Vidia spoke with a wry smile.

Tip's smile never wavered as she responded "I do anything and everything that Mr Hamada requires of me," Her smile did disappear as she added with a cold glare "Even taking out the trash"

Before Vidia could talk back Tip's smile was back and she asked "Will that be all?"

* * *

Hiro was downstairs in his workshop. That morning he was checking out an old car engine, and the sound system was playing Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race".

"Oh, give me an exploded view" Hiro commanded.

Oh did so on the nearest computer screen "The compression in cylinder three appears to be low" he also noted.

"Log that for me?" Hiro asked, frowning as the volume of his music dropped until it was almost silent. Not bothering to look at the culprit he complained "Please don't turn down my music"

"You're supposed to be halfway around the world right now!" came Tip's voice.

"How'd she take it?" Hiro asked, completely ignoring Tip's earlier complaint.

Tip paused before smirking "Like a champ"

"Why do you want me gone?"

"Your plane was meant to leave an hour and a half ago"

"I would have thought, y'know seeing as it's my plane and all, it would wait for me" Hiro complained.

Hiro rised from his spot, turning to see Tip, clipboard and coffee mug in hand, with a look plastered across her face that was a amusing fusion of rushed panic and irritation. "I need you to look at some things before you go"

"Doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it leaves without you?"

"Gunter called" Tip continued, wisely ignoring Hiro's tirade "He has another buyer for the Jackson Pollock. Do you want it? Yes or no?"

"Is it a good representation of his spring period?" he asked

"Uh... no. The Springs was the neighbourhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked, not "spring" like the season"

"So?"

"I think it's a good one. I just think it's really overpriced"

"I want it" Hiro shrugged "Buy it, store it"

He strolled over to the other side of the workshop as Tip continued to speak "Okay. The MIT commencement speech-"

"Is in June" Hiro interuppted "Please, don't pester me about stuff that far off..."

"Well they're pestering me, so I'm gonna say yes"

"Deflect it and absorb it" Hiro said "Don't trasmit back to me"

Tip handed him the clipboard "I need you to sign this before you go"

"Why are you so eager to get rid of me?" Hiro asked as he signed "You got plans?"

"I do actually"

Hiro raised an eyebrow "You never have plans"

"Well, considering it's my birthday, I'm allowed to have plans" Tip said.

Hiro froze "It's your birthday?"

"Yes"

"Already?"

"Yes" she smiled again "Weird right? The exact same day as last year"

Smiling at her sarcasm, Hiro said "Well... get yourself something nice. On me"

"I already did" Tip shrugged

"Excuse me?"

"It wasn't that expensive" Tip assured him.

"Uh-huh" Hiro grunted not buying her words for a moment "Was it nice?"

"It was very nice" Tip smiled "Very tasteful"

"I always did have great taste" Hiro smirked

"Thank you, Mr Hamada" she chuckled

"You're very welcome, Miss Tucci" Hiro joked back.

Taking a quick sip of Tip's coffee, Hiro made a quick farewell to the woman before leaving.

* * *

Gogo was not happy. She was not happy at all.

She was tired of waiting on that damn kid.

She was currently stewing in all the curse words she could think of as a sleek silver audi peeled onto the runway, followed by a bentley.

Hiro emerged from the audi and grinned at his bodyguard, who was getting out the bentley "Good job Fred!" he laughed "I thought I lost you back there!"

"You did boss" Fred replied as he got Hiro's bag "I had to cut across Mulholland"

Hiro practically skipped up to Gogo, completely indifferent to the scowl across her face "What's up?"

"Where the hell have you been?" Gogo demanded to know.

"I was doing Vanity Fair" the young billionaire chuckled.

"I have been waiting for hours" she complained

"Now I'm waiting on you" Hiro quipped as he passed her and boarded the jet "Wheel's up, boys!" he playfully shouted.

Needless to say, Gogo's mood was slow to improve.

In fact, she never spoke a word for the first hour of the flight. She just sat there, across the little table from Hiro, reading the newspaper surrounded with an air so frosty you could've seen her breath if it was any worse.

"Come on Gogo" Hiro moaned "I said I was sorry. Please don't be mad"

"I'm not mad" she retorted in a tone that suggested otherwise "I'm just indifferent"

She continued to speak even as Hiro turned to flirt with the hostess "You don't need to apologise to me, I'm just indifferent. You don't respect yourself kid. So I know you don't respect me"

"I respect you" Hiro assured her.

"No you don't" she countered "You treat me like I'm your damn babysitter, so you know what? That's what I'm gonna be. So whenever you need your diaper changed," she paused to thank the hostess as she handed her a hot towel "Let me know. You just cry like the little kid you are and I'll be there with the talcum powder, alright?"

"You know what?" Hiro smiled "I got you sake!" He turned to the hostess "Heat up the sake"

"Hiro..." Gogo started, her tone tired and annoyed.

"Gogo, relax" he sighed "You're too worked up, and I know sake's your favorite"

"We're working" she argued, albeit she came off more as hesitant.

"We're flying on my luxury jet" Hiro grinned "I wouldn't call that working"

"You are incapable of acting responsibly" she complained

"It's all part of the billionaire playboy image" Hiro grinned "Now drink!"

Fortunately for Hiro, Gogo was a bit of a lightweight. So it took roughly about a half hour and a bottle of sake for Gogo to go along with whatever Hiro suggested. Which was why there was currently an air hostess pole-dancing to the sound of some trashy k-pop (Gogo's suggestion) while they reclined on a sofa. Or at least Hiro was. Gogo was currently chatting his ear off. She was a chatty drunk.

"That's what I'm talking about" Gogo slurred "When I get up in the morning and I'm putting on my uniform, you know what I see? I see that everyone who's got this uniform on has my back!"

"You know, Gogo" Hiro was at least attempting to try and act like he was listening to his friend, although his eyes were glued to the pole-dancer who was progressively losing her clothes "I'm just not like you. I'm not cut out for..."

"No, no" Gogo interuppted him "You don't have to be like me! But you're more than what you are, what you currently are. You know what I man?"

"I'm sorry" Hiro apologised with a gesture to the dancer "But can you excuse me if I'm a little distracted right now"

"No, no. You can't afford to be distracted right now. Now listen!" Gogo rambled.

This scenario played out until Gogo passed out, which was mercifully not long.

* * *

Let it be known that Gogo knew how to clean up really quickly, because by the time the jet touched down in Afghanistan everyone was looking smart and not-hungover (well, apart from Gogo herself, who was grunting about a headache).

Hiro strutted down the steps of the plane to shake the general's hand, completely unfazed by the sunlight. He was there to demonstrate his latest weapon tech.

The presentation went a little like this:

"Is it better to be feared or respected? I like to say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind I humbly present the crown jewel of Hamada Industries Weapons Division. The first weapon to feature our revolutionary particle repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one that you never have to fire. I disagree. I personally prefer the weapon that you only have to fire once! That's how my old man did it. That's how America does it. And you know what? It's worked for us in the past, it works now and I bet you money that it will work for many years to come"

Hiro nodded to the operator on his left. With only a few button presses the massive missle launcher stationed to the side turned to moutainside behind Hiro.

"Find an excuse to let one of these babies out the bag and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves"

Another nod from Hiro triggered the operator to launch one of the missiles. Faster than anyone could even blink the missile was in the air, flying with an incredible roar. At its vertix, the missile expoloded, triggering the release of a dozen bombs to fall from the sky. Exploding on impact, the mountainside seemed to crumble from the bombardment, the shockwave racing towards Hiro and the base.

"Gentlemen..." Hiro paused for effect as he gestured towards the approaching dust cloud with an outstretched arm "I present to you... The Phoenix!"

Hiro waited until the soldiers were able to overcome their shock and amazement before walking away to another one of the crates he had brought. Inside was a refrigerated collection of alcohol.

"I'm also throwing these in with every purchase" he chuckled "500 million or more guys" He raised his brandy glass "To peace!" before marching off to his humvee (yes, _that_ Humvee).

Settling into the back seat, Hiro's phone started to go off, alerting him to an incoming video call. Answering, Hiro was met with the face of Robert Callaghan, an old friend of his, and his father's before him.

Callaghan was an older man. His hair was slate grey and wrinkles decorated his face. He must've still been in America, because the old man was calling from his bed.

"Hiro" the man spoke with mirth that could only be found in the voices of the old "How did it go?"

"Callaghan?" Hiro was surprised "What are you still doing up?"

"Meh, I couldn't sleep" Callaghan brushed off the question "Now come on, tell me. How'd it go?" he asked like a concerned parent.

"It went great" Hiro grinned "Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas"

"Way to go, my boy!" Callaghan cheered "I'll see you tomorrow when you land with a bottle of malt to celebrate. How's that sound?"

"That sounds great" Hiro chuckled in response "Hey, why aren't wearing those pyjamas I got you?"

"Goodnight, Hiro" Callaghan smiled before hanging up.

Hiro sprung to the door to hold it shut as Gogo approached "Sorry, but this is the fun-vee. The hum-drum-vee's all the way back there" he joked.

Gogo gave a small smile as she shook her head "Don't have too much fun without me now"

"Wouldn't dream of it"

* * *

 _ **Now**_

Pain, Hiro remembered that very well. The pain in his head especially. He was pretty sure that was his voice he remembered screaming, but honestly things were far too fuzzy to tell.

He woke up on a bed at least, although that bed did look it was inside a cave. The second thing he noticed was the white rubber tube that seemed to have been stuck up his right nostril, he quickly pulled it out in disgust. The third thing he saw was the small plate of what looked like food of some kind put on a box to his size. Reaching out, Hiro cursed as his uncoordinated hand knocked everything onto the ground.

He froze when he saw there was someone else in the room. A man that Hiro could only describe as middle-eastern, sitting not far from him, shaving into a sheet of glass with his back to him.

Hiro tried to move again, to try and roll out of the bed but he froze when he heard the sound of something heavy moving behind him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" The stranger warned him without turning.

Turning to look on the other side of the bed, Hiro came face to face with looked like a car battery, with cables attached. Cables that led to him.

Confused, Hiro followed the cables with his hand until they stopped at the wrappings around his head. With increasing panic, Hiro unwound the bandages until he found what the wires were connected to.

Something had been grafted into his skull. He could feel it, just above his left temple was something metal. It was roughly the size of an old Nokia phone, which made it a little hard to ignore. Hiro tried to wiggle it a little bit but his head seemed to explode in pain.

Hiro looked up at the man with horror in his eyes "What the hell have you done to me?"

* * *

 **Authors Note**

A thousand apologies for not releasing this chapter sooner. With the end of the school year and college applications and all that jazz, things have been pretty hectic. With hope, the next chapter will be up a lot sooner.

Don't forget to follow, favourite or leave a review. They're always welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**Stuck in a Cave With a Box of Scraps**

Hiro looked up at the man with horror in his eyes "What the hell have you done to me?"

"What have I done?" the man repeated as he tended to a pot over the nearby fire "What I have done is save your life"

Hiro admired the contraption in the mirror as the man continued to speak "I removed as much of the shrapnel as I could from your body, but there is much left. And simply put, without that little electromagnet, the pieces would have caused irreperable damage to your cerebrum"

He tapped Hiro's shoulder and handed him a small glass container "There you are" the older man chuckled "A souvenir"

Hiro looked inside. Within the container were at least a dozen small metal shards.

"You said this was an electromagnet?" Hiro asked

"Yes" the other man nodded "It essentially keeps the shrapnel from sinking any deeper into your brain, and believe me, they would have"

"How long would you say that the battery will keep it running?" Hiro asked, trying to hide his fear. The fear that he might not hear a good answer.

The mans face turned grim "Roughly, about a week. Maybe two"

Hiro suddenly felt naseous, sitting back down on a crate as the man handed him a bowl of what looked like baked beans. Not having much of an appetite, Hiro instead took the time to take in his surroundings. The cave was mostly crates, wooden chairs and nothing else, with the exception of a surprisingly modern-looking security camera looking down on them.

"You noticed it" the man noted "Remember to smile"

They ate in silence for a while before the stranger spoke again "We met once," he said "At a techincal conference in Bern"

Hiro's face scrunched up as he tried to recall the memory "I can't remember"

"That's natural" he assured him "You took quite a hit to that head of yours" He chuckled as if he remembered something funny "Besides you were very drunk as I recall. You impressed me that day, Mr. Hamada. If I was as drunk as you were that night I would have been barely able to stand much less give a lecture on integrated circuits"

"Where are we?" Hiro asked.

Not sooner than the question left his lips, a large metal door shuddered as locks were undone. A small shutter opened as a man yelled something in a language foreign to the young inventor (which could have been anything to be fair, Hiro only spoke english and bad-english).

Hiro's "companion" for lack of a better term jumped to his feet with such speed it was if he had been struck with a live wire "Stand up" he spoke urgently to the younger man "Now!"

Hiro complied.

"Just do as I do" he told Hiro, as he faced the door with both hands in the air. Hiro copied his movements as the door opened, and in flooded half a dozen terrorists, all armed to the teeth.

"Those are my guns" Hiro realised with alarm and confusion, though his voice was barely a whisper "How did they get my guns?"

"Shut up!" the other man hissed.

A larger man emerged from the terrorist group. The man did not carry a gun, rather he held what appeared to be a rolled up piece of paper. He also happened to sport a comically large and shaggy beard. If Hiro wasn't being held at gunpoint he might have made a witty comment.

The bearded man spoke in a language that Hiro couldn't understand. Fortunately, his companion was translating "Welcome, Mr. Hiro Hamada, the most famous mass murderer in all of America. He's says it's an honour to finally meet you"

The man continued to speak "He says that he wants you to build the missile" Hiro's fellow prisoner translated as he was handed the paper "This missile"

Hiro took the paper and unrolled it. It was a photograph. A photograph of a weapon that Hiro recognised all too well. He had just only demonstrated its capabilities to the army just a few days ago.

The Phoenix missile.

Hiro stared at the photo for what felt like a long time, then looked to his fellow captive, and finally stared the bearded man in the eye.

"No"

Hiro's friend's eyebrows shot up while the bearded man's eyes narrowed.

"I refuse"

The terrorists didn't like that answer.

* * *

After a brief session of waterboarding, more terrorists dragged Hiro out of the cave.

Cradling the car battery in his arms, Hiro was nearly blinded as the sunlight glared down on him. Once his vision cleared, he saw to his horror that the terrorists had managed to get their hands on more than just photographs. There were piles of Hamada-made weaponry just lying around.

The bearded man started speaking again, and Hiro's fellow prisoner translated: "He wants to know what you think"

"I think... you've got a lot of my stuff" Hiro answered

"He says they have everything you need to build the Phoenix missile" his friend translated "He wants you to make a list of materials. You'll start working immediately and when you're done, he promises that he'll set you free"

The bearded man held out a hand. Hiro shook it in agreement.

"He won't will he?" Hiro asked his friend, faking a smile for the terrorist.

"No, he won't"

* * *

It had been less than an hour since that revelation, and Hiro and his companion were already back in their cell.

Hiro hadn't spoken a word since.

"I know you believe that your fellow countrymen will find you, Mr. Hamada" his fellow prisoner spoke "But they will not. These mountains are a maze for the unfamiliar"

"Yay" Hiro muttered sarcastically.

The man dropped down so he could look the seated Hiro in the eye "You don't understand it, do you? That's your legacy outside Mr. Hamada. Your life's work in the hands of murderers! Are you really willing to let that be end of your name? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Hiro Hamada?"

"What am I supposed to do?" Hiro snapped "I'm going to die either way. They'll kill me if I don't make them the missile, they'll kill me if I do," He furiously tapped the electromagnet on his head "And because of this damn thing I'll be dead within a week anyway!"

"Well then..." the man responded, unfased by the younger man's outburst "This will be a busy week for you"

Hiro sat for a while, processing his fellow cellmate's challenge, before speaking.

"I never got your name" he said

"My name?" the man repeated "My name's Robin Djinn"

Hiro smiled, a small semblance of the man he was having returned to him "Well Robin, you were right. Let's get to work"

* * *

It took the remainder of the day for the terrorists to gather all the tools Hiro had asked for. Together, Hiro and Robin worked all throughout the night and following day, disassembling old tech and drawing plans.

Hiro was in the middle of writing a series of lines and figures on an old scrap piece of paper when Robin placed a piece from an old Hamada missile in front of him, disturbing his thoughts.

"This was the one you wanted?" the older man asked.

Hiro nodded, taking a small pair of tweezers before removing a thin strip of metal from the fist sized device, and throwing the larger piece away.

"What's that?" Robin asked

"This," Hiro gestured to metal in the tweezers "Is palladium, 0.15g. We need at least 1.6 so can you break down the rest while I work on this"

Robin went away to do as Hiro asked when Hiro started talking "So how many languages can you speak?"

Hiro was thinking back to the way Robin spoke to the terrorists when they were gathering tools, speaking to many of them in different languages and dialects.

"I speak many languages" Robin answered "But apparently, for this place, I do not speak enough. These people speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian, Hungarian, Turkish, Punjabi, Mandarin, Japanese-"

"Wait, Japanese?" Hiro interuppted him "I thought these guys were Jihadists?"

"They are... partially" Robin admitted "But they're actually a branch of a larger group from further east. They call themselves the Mononoke"

As the hours stretched on Robin managed to gather the palladium and together he and Hiro melted it down into the shape that he wanted.

When they were finished, the invention created was not a Phoenix missile, it wasn't even a weapon.

"What is that?" Robin asked.

The device was small, the same size and shape as the electromagnet that was currently grafted into Hiro's skull. However, what lay before them glowed with a faint light.

"That's a nano-reactor" Hiro explained "It's basically a miniaturised version of the fusion reactor I've got at home. I plan on using this to replace the electromagnet in my head"

"How much power can it generate?"

"Well..." Hiro paused as he considered the numbers in his head "If my maths is right, and it usually is, we're talking three gigajoules per second"

Robin's eyes widened "That could keep the magnet running for your entire life"

"Times fifty" Hiro added with a smirk "But what I really need it to run is this"

Moving the nano-reactor to the side, Hiro laid out his sketches. To be fair, they were just random lines on sheets of A4. But just as Robin was about to ask him what he meant, Hiro piled the sheets on top of each other and laid them flat with his hands.

Now they formed an image. An image of a suit of armour.

"We're making this" Hiro said with a smile.

Robin implanted the nano-reactor into Hiro's head that very night and together, the two began to work with all-new fervour. Hours went by as they worked, only stopping for food and drink. And as they worked, they talked.

"You still haven't told me where you're from" Hiro said once.

"I'm from a small town called Gulmira" Robin answered with a small, almost wistful smile.

"Is it nice?" Hiro asked

"Yes. It is very nice"

"Got family?"

Robin put his tools down, answering after a lengthy pause "Yes"

"You close with them?"

"Yes" Robin resumed his work "In fact, once I leave this place I am going to go be with them. And I will never leave them again"

Hiro smiled at his friends conviction.

"And what of yourself?" Robin enquired "Do you have family?"

Hiro shook his head.

Robin's smile seemed so pitying it honestly made Hiro uncomfortable "So, you're the man that has everything. And yet you have nothing"

Before Hiro could ask what he meant there was a loud banging noise at the door, some kind of middle-eastern yelling and the sound of shifting locks. Hiro and Robin quickly put their hands in the air as Mononoke riflemen marched in.

All of a sudden the men parted for another man. A man Hiro had never met before. He was an imposing man of some sort of middle-eastern enthinicity, with a shaven head and piercing brown eyes. He was draped in a fur pelt over more practical clothing. Slowly surveying the room, the new man's eyes settled on Hiro. The young inventor's skin crawled as the man studied him.

"Relax" the man spoke in surprisingly charming english.

Slowly, Hiro dropped his arms as the man, who Hiro could only assume was the Mononoke's leader, approached him. The leader raised a hand to the Hiro's head and tilted it to the side, examining the nano-reactor.

"The bow and arrow," the man spoke "was once the pinnacle of weapons technology" He continued to speak as he strolled around the workshop "It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire"

Hiro, although he was maintaining his poker face, was secretly panicking as the Mononoke leader lifted and read his armour blueprints, secretly hoping that he wouldn't be able to read them properly.

"But today..." he said "Whoever holds the latest Hamada weaponry rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn"

The man turned to Robin and began to speak to him in a language that Hiro could not understand. All of a sudden, two soldiers brought Hiro's friend to his knees, and the leader reached for a pair of forceps. To Hiro's confusion, he plucked a glowing ember from the fire and repeated something to Robin. Robin repeated himself, slightly more panicked. With the horror dawning on Hiro, the young man stepped forward "What do you want? A delivery date?" he demanded to know.

The rest of the Mononoke men raised their guns, shouting warnings. Hiro froze, but thankfully the leader stopped what he was doing, returning his piercing stare to him.

"I need him" Hiro said with a weak smile, trying to work some of his old charm "He's a good assistant"

The leader returned the ember back into the fire and ordered his men to release Robin.

"You have until tomorrow" he announced, letting the threat hang in the air. And then he left with his entourage.

Hiro ran across the room and brought his friend to his feet.

"We're getting out of here" Hiro whispered into his ear. "Now"

* * *

Hiro was true to his word. As soon as Robin had declared it was be safe to continue, Hiro worked frantically on the finishing touches to the armour. Plating and electronics.

That morning (at least what Hiro thought was morning) he donned the suit. As he quietly tested his mobility out of the camera's sight, Robin was screwing the plates together.

"Say it again" Robin said to him. He was referring to the directions out of the cave.

"41 steps straight ahead" Hiro recited "Then 16 steps from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right"

Suddenly there came a loud banging on the door, and foreign yelling.

"Say something to him" Hiro whispered "Say something back"

"What should I say?"

"Anthing! He can't come in"

It was true. Not only would the terrorist notice the armour if he came in, he would set off an explosive that Hiro had managed to jury rig together. It was meant to be their ticket to opening it.

"He's speaking Hungarian" Robin noted "I can't speak Hungarian"

"Say something!" Hiro all but begged him.

"Wait..." Robin stopped to think for a moment before yelling something to the man at the door.

It didn't work.

The terrorist tried to open the door, only to hit the tripwire. The explosive tore the door (and the man) apart.

"Well that worked" Hiro said with a small smile.

"It's finished" Robin exclaimed, throwing away the power tool in his hand.

"Then start the power sequence" Hiro told him.

Robin darted to the nearby computer "Tell me what to do"

"Hit F11 and tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up now. Tell me if you see it"

"I see it"

"Good. Press CTRL and I and then hit Enter"

Slowly but surely, Hiro's suit began to come to life. But the heavy boots of the Mononoke were coming fast, and progress was nowehere near complete.

"We need more time" Robin stated, running to the door.

"What are you doing?" Hiro called after him.

Robin pulled an assault rifle out of the heads of one of the dead terrorists "I'm buying you some time!" he explained as he charged away.

"That's not the plan! Stick to the plan!" Hiro yelled, but it was no use. Robin was gone.

"ROBIN!"

After what seemed an eternity, the computer chimed completion, and Hiro charged after his friend. A Mononoke terrorist burst from cover to shoot him, but the bullets ricocheted off his armour. With a single punch, Hiro sent the man's broken body flying into the wall.

Hiro marched onwards, the suits limitations making his pace a painfully slow amble. Regardless, the terrorists ran from him, for nothing could actually slow him. Soldiers were sent flying, locked doors were broken down, absolutely nothing could stop him.

"Hiro!" came Robin's voice.

Hiro turned to see his friend near the mouth of the cave. Immediately he knew that Robin was injured. His voice was wheezing, and blood was pooling around his prone form.

"Robin!" Hiro cried in alarm

"Look out" Robin coughed

An explosion just inches from his armoured head disoriented the young inventor, who turned to find the Mononoke leader reloading a grenade launcher.

Hiro pulled on a section on his suit's arm to reveal a small wrist-mounted rocket. Striking the flint, the rocket flew, and missed. But the explosion was enough to disable the Mononoke leader, knocking him unconcious.

Hiro went to Robin, and turned him over. Just as he feared, the man had been shot.

"Come on" Hiro urged him, wiping away some blood from his friend's mouth "We need to go" He tried to lift him, but he was deadweight and Robin cried out in pain when he did.

"I'm afraid-" Robin paused as he coughed up some blood "I'm afraid I won't be joining you, Mr. Hamada"

"Please, man" Hiro begged "We've got a plan, remember? We need to stick to it"

"This was always the plan, my friend"

"What? Come on, you gotta go see your family. Now get up"

"My family... is dead" Robin sighed "I'm going to go be with them now"

"No" Hiro was barely a whisper

"It's okay" Robin assured him "I want this. I want this"

Hiro blinked back tears as he spoke "Thank you for saving me. For everything"

Robin smiled, "Don't waste your life, Hiro. Don't waste your gifts. You have a great spark. You worth more to this world than a killer. Do you understand me?"

Hiro sniffed, and nodded.

Robin smiled "Good, good". His face went slack, and he breathed no more.

Hiro knelt there for a while, a hurricane of emotions running through him; pain, anger, grief.

He wasn't too sure how much passed, how long he spent there, but it wasn't until he heard the foreign voices of the Mononoke rallying outside.

Rising to his feet, Hiro marched out into the daylight, ready to fight and kill, and was immediately riddled with gunfire. Or he would have had it not been for the armour.

"My turn" Hiro growled.

From his arms spouted two streams of fire. Mononoke ran and ducked for cover as Hiro's flamethrowers burned everything to the ground. Hiro was determined. None of his weapons would survive his escape. The Mononoke would be left with nothing.

Hiro cried out as a sharp pain burst in his leg. Turning to find a culprit, he looked up and saw a turret firing on him. His armour held up, but the sheer attrition was beginning to leave him helpless.

All other weapons spent, Hiro just decided to get the hell out of dodge. Reaching for a switch on his arm, Hiro activated the jet-thrusters on his suit. With a roar, the crude thrusters came to life and Hiro took off into the air.

Cheering with joy, Hiro continued to try and fly to civilisation, but as luck would have it, the jets cut out.

"Dammit" Hiro cursed as he crashed into a sand dune.

He had survived. His armour was ruined but he was alive. Hiro, once he rose to his feet, did a little fist-pump.

Hiro gazed out across the desert. He had no idea where he was or where his friends were. All he knew was where he had came from, and it would be a cold day in hell before he headed back that way.

With a quick prayer to whatever god would hear him, Hiro began the long walk to home, and his freedom.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hoo boy, this took ages.

Sorry for taking so long to finish this one, but A) I wanted Hiro's little experience with the terrorists to be one single chapter and B) I've been caught up in a lot of pre-college drama

Incidentally, Robin Djinn is _not_ a character from any animated movie (that I know of), rather one inspired by an already existing Disney character. I'm interested to see who can figure it out (mind you, it's not that difficult)

Regardless, thanks for reading. Please favourite and follow and leave some reviews if you can.

Until next time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Return of the Prodigal Son**

Hiro had been walking for hours before he came across any sign of life. Namely, the sound of helicopters. American helicopters.

Hiro yelled, waved, did everything short of a dance to get their attention. Luckily, they had appeared to have seen him because one by one, the three choppers landed.

The first soldier practically leaped from their helicopter, sprinting across the sand to reach him. Once she approached him, her face was all too familiar.

"How was the "fun-vee"?" Gogo beamed.

Something overcame Hiro in that moment. For the first time in his life, he fell to his knees and wept. Pure, shameless tears of relief and joy ran down his face as his closest friend embraced him.

"It's alright" Gogo gently spoke "You're okay"

In that moment, Hiro wasn't in Afghanistan. He was nestled in Gogo's arms like a little brother, like so many times before (more than he'd truthfully admit), and he was going to be okay.

Hiro opened his bleary eyes and looked up to the warm smile of his best friend.

"Let's get you home" she said, and that was the end of it.

* * *

The first thing Hiro noticed as he and Gogo got off the plane was that Tip and Fred were waiting for him. Fred had one of the largest smiles he had ever seen plastered across his face, while Tip looked ready to burst into tears.

Hiro strode off the plane, arm in arm with Gogo, much to her insistence, and his other arm in a baby blue sling, a purple beanie pulled over his head to hide the nano-reactor. Two men approached with a gurney, but Hiro convinced Gogo to wave them away. The young inventor smiled at Tip, who could barely contain her own smile.

"Your eyes are red" Hiro noted "A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

"Tears of joy" Tip assured him, before adding with a joke "I hate job hunting"

"Yeah well, vacation's over" Hiro chuckled back.

He and Tip got into Fred's car, Gogo settling to follow on her motorcycle.

"Where to, boss?" Fred asked

"The hospital" Tip requested

"No"

"No? Hiro, you have to see a-"

"No" Hiro cut her off again "I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. First thing I wanna do is get to the nearest fast food place and buy a cheeseburger, and second is-"

"Oh my God" Tip sighed

"It's not what you think!" Hiro argued "I want to hold a press conference"

"Press conference?"

"Yes, a press conference" He turned to speak to his faithful driver "Go, Fred. Cheeseburger first"

* * *

"Look at you!" Callaghan cheered as he embraced Hiro in a rib crushing bear-hug. Hiro almost dropped his burger in surprise.

"Nice to see you too" he smiled as he waved at the surrounding paparazzi. He walked on into the building, Callaghan, Tip and the press all following behind him.

As the crowd began to settle, Tip heard a voice "Miss Tucci?"

"Yes" she turned to come face to face with a stranger. It was a large man of heavy build, with messy brown hair and a warm smile.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" the man asked

"I'm not part of the press conference" Tip told him "But it's about to begin now"

"I'm not a reporter" The man explained "My name is Ralph Reilly, I work for the Guerrilla Assault and Recon Division"

"That's quite a mouthful" Tip noted, only partially paying attention.

"Yeah, I know" he nodded sadly as he handed her a business card.

Tip gave the card a quick look before talking again "You know we've already been approached by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..."

"We're a separate division" the man explained "One with a more specific focus. Mainly we'd like to speak to Mr. Hamada about the circumstances of his escape"

"I'll put something in the book then, shall I?"

He smiled "That's all I ask"

They both stopped talking as Hiro approached the podium to speak, then much to the confusion of everyone sat down in front of it.

"Would it be okay if everyone just sorta sat down?" he asked "That way you can see me, and I can see all of you"

One by one, the press slowly and awkwardly sat down. "Perfect" Hiro sighed.

"What's he doing?" Gogo asked Tip, the two women both sitting near the back of the crowd.

"Don't ask me" was Tip's reply. The woman was just as equally confused.

Hiro looked to his right. There, looking ever so slightly uncomfortable on the podium steps, was Callaghan. "It's good to see you" the young scientist said to him.

Callaghan smiled "Good to see you too"

"I never got to say goodbye to Dad" Hiro spoke sadly, before looking to address the crowd "I never got to say goodbye to my father. There are questions I would have asked him. I would have asked him about how he felt about what this company did, whether or not he was comfortable with it, whether or not he agreed with it. I would have asked him if he ever, well, if he ever had doubts, if he ever felt conflicted about what his company did. Or maybe he was just the man we all knew and remembered from the news, from the tabloids" He was silent for a few moments before he spoke again, a slight crack of emotion in his voice "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I had designed to defend and protect them. And I saw... I saw that I had become part of a system that could not be held accountable, and were okay with that"

A reporter at the front raised his hand "Mr. Hamada?" he asked in a quiet tone, seemingly afraid to break the silence that had fallen.

"Yes?"

"What happened to you over there?" the reporter asked

"I had my eyes opened" Hiro answered, rising to his feet and stepping behind the podium "I came to realise that have more to offer this world than just death. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Hamada Industries until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be, what direction it will take, one that I am comfortable with and one that benefits this country as a whole!"

And with that he marched away, ignoring the frenzied questions of the press, Callaghan's attempt to restore order, and the shocked faces of both Gogo and Tip.

* * *

Hiro was at the Hamada Industries lab when Callaghan found him. He was observing the fusion reactor powering the building, gazing into the constant shifting light within, as if it were some holy light.

"Son," Callaghan said "What happened back there?"

"Did I just paint a target on my head?" Hiro asked him, deliberately avoiding the question.

"Your head? What about my head?" Callaghan's tone wasn't angry, but the way he paced the room told enough about his mood. He was worried, and not just about the company "What do think the over-under on tomorrows stock drop will be?"

"40 points?" Hiro suggested optimistically.

"Ha!" Callaghan barked a humourless laugh "At minimum"

Callaghan approached Hiro, and draped an arm over his shoulder "Hiro, we're a weapons manufacturer. We make weapons. It's what we do"

"Callaghan, I don't want a body count to be my only legacy" Hiro argued

"It's not your legacy" Callaghan assured him

"It's my name stamped on the bombs" Hiro countered

"We're keeping order"

"No we're not!" Hiro almost shouted, before lowering his voice again "Not based on what I saw. We need to do something else"

"Like what? Make robot nurses?"

"I think we should take another look into fusion-powered technology"

Callaghan's bushy eyebrows shot skyward in disbelief "Fusion power? That's your big idea? Hiro, the fusion thing was just a publicity stunt, remember, to shut up all the hippies!"

"It works"

"As a science project! It was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it, everyone did. It's a dead end"

"Maybe"

Callaghan stopped and looked at Hiro. In all the years the old man had known him, he had come to recognise the look in the young prodigy's eyes when he had an idea "There hasn't been a breakthrough in years, at least for us"

The two stared at each other for a while before Hiro broke the silence "You have a lousy poker face. Who told you?"

Callaghan just shrugged his shoulders "No one told me anything"

"Was it Gogo or Tip?"

"Hiro..."

"It was Gogo"

"Just show me it"

Sighing with a smile, Hiro removed his beanie, the faint light of the nano-reactor glowing from his temple.

"You lost a bit of hair" Callaghan noted the shaved area around the reactor.

"I'll grow it back" Hiro shrugged "Might take a while though"

Callaghan smiled, it was one of those funny smiles that meant he was planning something. Taking Hiro's hat, he carefully put it back on his young friend's head "Okay" he said.

"It works" Hiro stated again for emphasis.

Callaghan wrapped his arm around Hiro as he spoke to him "Listen, Hiro. We're a team, you and me. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together"

"Are you upset because I didn't give you a heads up?" Hiro asked him, referring to his announcement.

"A little" Callaghan admitted "Hiro, no more of this "ready, fire, aim" business, okay?"

"Wasn't that one of my dad's lines?"

"Yeah, but he was right. Hiro, let me handle this, okay? We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. I'll deal with the board, you just promise me you'll stay low" the old man seemed to plead.

Hiro smiled, touched by his friend's concern "I promise"

* * *

"Hey Tip!"

Tip was watching TV in her boss's lounge when Hiro called her over the intercom. It was surprisingly loud and Tip almost dropped her fries.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"How big are your hands?" he asked

Tip was understandably confused "What?"

"How big are your hands?"

"I don't understand what.."

"Just get down here. I need you"

Without another word, Tip made her way down to Hiro's workshop. There, she found him lying on his side, across a table, and hooked up to a heart monitor.

"Hey" he smiled as she approached "Come on, show me your hands". Tip raised her hands "Wow, they are small. Very petite"

"What are you doing?" Tip asked him "What is this?"

"I just need your help for a second" Hiro said, fiddling with a small glowing object in his hand.

"My God," Tip just noticed the nano-reactor in his head. The entire time she had seen him since his return, she had only ever seen him wearing his beanie "Is that the thing that's keeping you alive?"

"It was" Hiro admitted "It's now an antique" He held the device in his hand to the light. It was another nano-reactor, smaller and more streamlined in design "This is what's gonna keep me alive for the forseeable future. I'm swapping it for an upgraded unit, it's just that Baymax ran into a little snag"

"Snag? What does that mean?" Tip looked across the table to Baymax to explain.

Baymax was a 6-foot tall robot that could only be described as a walking marshmallow. Designed to work as a nurse, Baymax was an inherited gift from Hiro's father. Serving Hiro, Baymax now resided in the workshop, tending to the injuries that Hiro inevitably inflicted upon himself.

"Upon attempting to remove the reactor, I discovered an exposed wire underneath the device" the robot explained "It is causing a electric shock everytime it touches the socket wall, which is hurting Hiro"

"You can't take it out?" Tip asked

"No" Baymax was blunt

"He's all thumbs" Hiro elaborated "So I need you to reach in and just carefully pull it out"

"Is it safe?" she asked

Baymax moved to speak, but Hiro spoke first "It'll be fine. It's just like Operation; just don't hit the sides or it goes "beep""

"What's Operation?"

"You don't know what Operation is?"

Tip shook her head.

"Nevermind" Hiro sighed "Just gently lift the wire"

Tip nodded in understanding. She reached into the small socket, but yanked her hand back "You know, I don't think I'm qualified for this" she said somewhat panicked.

"Hey, it's alright" Hiro spoke in soothing tones "You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I have ever met"

The two spent a moment awkwardly staring at each other before Hiro spoke up again "Am I asking too much? Because I really need your help here"

"It's okay" Tip breathed "Okay" She reached into the side of Hiro's head, before grimacing in disgust "Oh God, there's pus!"

"It's not pus" Hiro argued, his voice remarkably casual and calm for a person who was currently having another person reaching inside his head "It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, it's not from my body"

"It stinks" she complained

Hiro only shrugged "You got that wire yet?"

"I think so"

"Good, now don't let it touch the- nyaah!" Hiro gave a involuntary yelp as he felt a shock go through him, followed by a small "Sorry" from Tip "... Touch the sides on the way out"

Tip had managed to pull the majority of the wire out when Hiro spoke up again "Make sure when you pull it out, you don't pull out the..." There was a "thunk" as Tip tugged the last of the wire out, along with a small copper-coloured object "That was a magnet" he finished his sentence "I kinda needed that"

"Oh God, sorry!" Tip gasped

"Don't try and put it back" Hiro instructed her through gritted teeth "Just hurry up and put the new one in"

"Hiro, what's wrong?"

"His vitals are beginning to drop" Baymax explained

"What?" Tip looked at Hiro with panic strewn across her features "You said this was safe"

"It is" Hiro argued "Now hurry up"

Tip took the new nano-reactor in her hands "Hiro?"

"Yeah?"

"It's gonna be okay"

"I know"

"It's gonna be okay"

"Tip..."

"You're going to be fi-"

"Tip, just do it!"

With shaking hands, Tip managed to fit the nano-reactor into her boss's head, Hiro giving off a quick bark of pain as she did so.

"Hiro's vital signs are now stabilising" Baymax said

Tip exhaled a massive breath she hadn't realised she was holding, while Hiro just chuckled

"That was fun" Hiro chuckled "Here," he said, moving Tip hands away from his head "I can finish the rest"

"Are you okay?" Tip asked

"Yeah," he gave her his best smile "I'm fine"

"Don't ever ask me to do that again" Tip sighed

Hiro's gaze dropped to the floor as he sat up "I don't have anyone else" he admitted quietly.

Tip's look softened with his admittance.

"Thank you" Hiro looked up at her, with a warm smile.

Tip returned his smile "What do you want me to do with this?" she asked him, holding up his old nano-reactor.

Hiro shrugged "Melt it down. Incinerate it"

"You don't want to keep it?"

"Tip, I've been called many things, but "nostalgic" was never one of them"

Tip nodded "Will that be all, Mr Hamada?"

Hiro smiled "That will be all, Miss Tucci"

Tip left as Hiro turned to his nurse "Thanks Baymax, I'm satisfied with my care"

Baymax nodded, and like that, he shut down.

"Oh" Hiro called out to his AI "Are you there?"

"Of course, sir" Oh's voice called back

"I want to open a new project file" Hiro told him, approaching his worktop "Call it "Mark II""

Pushing a couple of buttons on the worktop, the desk came to life as a holographic 3D image of Hiro's armour appeared.

"Shall I store this on Hamada Industries' Central Database?" Oh asked

"No" Hiro told him, as he fiddled with the plan, picking pieces of the image apart with his hands "I'm not sure who to trust right now. Keep it all on my private server"

"Ah," Oh conjured a small bin to appear on Hiro's worktop, which Hiro used to bin pieces of unessential/excess parts of the armour's plan "Working on a secret project, are we sir?"

"I don't want this falling into the wrong hands" Hiro explained as he worked "At least in mine, it might do some good"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Sorry this took so long guys, college is a nightmare.

This will be finished. I don't know how long it will take, but it will be finished


	5. Chapter 5

**Heroes Are Built**

"The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned?" Gogo asked her recruits. Ultimately, as one of the military's best pilots, Gogo was often asked to give the newest recruits the grand tour. Her speech was well practiced, and the faces of the newbies never ceased to amuse her.

"Personally, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever beat a pilot's instinct, his insight, his ability to look at a situation and look beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgement" Gogo's smile only got wider as she spotted a familiar face approach "Look who fell out the sky! Mr. Hiro Hamada, ladies and gentlemen"

Hiro waved and smiled at the group as they appluaded his approach, looking surprisingly embarrassed by the attention.

"Hey everyone" he smiled, shaking the nearest recruit by the hand "Speaking of manned or unmanned, you need to ask her about the time she guessed wrong"

"Uhh Hiro" Gogo's eyes were wide.

"Spring break, 1987" Hiro continued unabated.

"Hiro..."

"That guy you hooked up with, what was her name?"

"Don't do that" Gogo groaned goodnaturedly as their audience began to chuckle.

"Was it Helen?"

"Shut up now. They'll believe you"

"Alright" Hiro raised his hands in mock surrender "I'll stop"

Gogo smiled at her friends immaturity, glad to see that Afghanistan hadn't completely destroyed it. "Could you give us a couple minutes guys" she asked the group. The recruits dispersed, and Gogo turned to Hiro to give him a friendly punch to the shoulder, elicitating a small "Hey" from the boy.

"It's good to see walking about" she smiled

"I'm doing a little better than walking" Hiro grinned back

"Oh yeah?"

Hiro's voice dropped in volume as he spoke "Gogo, I'm working on something, something big, and I'd like you to be a part of it"

Gogo chuckled "You're gonna make a lot of people happy around here, because that little stunt at the press conference, that spooked a few people. Alright"

Hiro's smile faltered a little "Yeah... This isn't for the military. It's, uh, it's something different"

"What? You're humanitarian now or something?" Gogo looked confused.

"Listen, Gogo-"

"No, Hiro you listen" Gogo's voice was gentle, but there was firmness to her words "I'm touched that you've come to me for help, but if it's not military, then I'm afraid there's not much I can do for you. You want my advice? Take some time to get your mind right before you jump back into your toolbox, alright? You're a good kid, and you're my friend. I don't want you to make any big mistakes, okay?"

Hiro smiled "I know, Gogo. I appreciate it"

"Good" Gogo turned away to return to her tour "It was good seeing you Hiro" she called over her shoulder.

Hiro waited until Gogo wasn't looking before losing his smile. He gave a weary sigh. It looked like he was on his own.

* * *

For hours, Hiro toiled away in his workshop. He was determined to make his armour, and he had decided to start with the feet. Designing it was easy, constructing the thrusters that would enable him to fly was the tricky part.

"Okay... Oh, roll the camera" Hiro instructed his AI "Okay, this is Thruster Test 1, we're gonna do this real simple. Start mark, half a metre, and back and centre"

Hiro gave a calm and steady exhale "Activating hand controls. We're going to start this nice and easy. 10% thrust capacity. And 3... 2... 1..."

Hiro hit the button and took off. A little too quickly actually. Before he could blink he hit the ceiling with a painful thud. The ceiling was concrete. Soundlessly, Hiro cut the power to the thrusters and crashed back down onto the floor "Owwww..." he moaned. He was faintly aware of the sound of something inflating and waddling to his side.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?"

Hours went by as Hiro went back to the blueprints once again. The thrusters were too powerful to control, so he went to design additional stabilisers. They fitted to his hands and arms like gauntlets, and he added small wing-like fixtures to the suits back for improved steering.

He was tinkering with one of the stabilisers when Tip found him.

"I've been buzzing you for ages" she complained "Did you not hear?"

"Nope" Hiro was miles away in thought, and so was only barely paying attention.

"Callaghan's upstairs"

"Why?"

"He just met with the board of directors. What do want me to tell him?"

"Tell him I'll be up in a minute" Hiro told her as he fastened the stabiliser to his arm.

"What's that? I thought you said you were done making weapons"

"I am" he assured her as the glove began to whine with power "This is a flight stabiliser. It's completely harmle-" He never finished his sentence as the stabiliser flared with power, sending him flying backwards into the wall "Ow! Dammit!"

"On a scale of one to ten, how you rate your pain?"

* * *

Hiro climbed the stairs about two steps at a time, his arm surprisingly intact, as he went to meet his mentor. He found Callaghan in the lounge, practicing his piano skills.

"So how did it go?" Hiro asked. Callaghan didn't respond, but Hiro saw the Dominos pizza on the coffee table "Oh. That bad, huh?"

"Just because I got pizza doesn't mean it went bad" Callaghan argued, still playing away.

"Sure it doesn't" Hiro sarcastically agreed. Opening the box, eager for a slice, he took note of the toppings. It was one of the most delicious-looking yet cripplingly unhealthy things he had ever seen in his life. That in itself told Hiro all he needed to know "Oh boy"

Callaghan rose from the piano to sit with the young prodigy "You know, it might have gone better if you were actually there"

"You told me to lay low" Hiro argued with a mouthful of pizza "That's what I've been doing"

"Lay low in public. The press" Callaghan countered "You still have a duty to the company"

"So how bad was it?" Hiro asked.

"The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction"

"A what?"

"They want to lock you out" he explained

"Why? Because the stock dropped forty points? We knew that was gonna happen" Hiro complained

"It was fifty-six and a half points"

"It doesn't matter. I still own the controlling interest in the company"

"Hiro," Callaghan sighed "The board has rights too y'know. They're making the case that you and your new direction is not what's best for the company"

"I'm trying to be responsible! That's a new direction me and the company" Callaghan just gave him a blank look "I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that..." he shut up when he realised he was just rambling. Sighing, he rose to leave, taking the pizza with him.

"Hiro, come on" Callaghan chased after him.

"I'll be in the shop" Hiro said over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Callaghan landed a hand on his shoulder and turned him around "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you have to give me something. Something to give them" He tapped Hiro's nano-reactor "Let the engineers have a look at that. They can draw some plans, get some work going"

"No" Hiro was blunt "This stays with me"

Callaghan sighed " Fine. Then I'll keep the pizza"

"Go ahead" Hiro handed him back the box.

"And because I'm such a nice guy" Callaghan continued "I'll even let you have a slice. In fact, have two"

So Hiro took a couple of slices, turned on his heel and left.

"You mind if I come down and see what you're working on?"

"Goodnight Callaghan"

That was a no.

* * *

"Okay... Day 11, test 37" Hiro said "We'll do this nice and easy. Just starting off with 1% thrust capacity, and 3...2...1..."

Wings unfolding from his back and thrusters firing into life, Hiro slowly rose about four feet into the air. He stayed in the air for about five to ten seconds before cutting the power, landing with a clunk.

"Well that went well" Hiro muttered (admittedly he thought he would spontaneously combust) "Okay, let's take it up to 2.5. Three, two, one aaaaand..."

The thrusters flared into life again. Hiro rose up faster than expected and was then suddenly out of the test area and hovering over his car collection.

"Nonononono I do not wanna be here" Hiro babbled as he wobbled in midair. He was worried he would somehow damage his cars.

Tilting backwards, Hiro flew back to the workshop, narrowly avoiding the tables and computers in the process. His flailing was harrowing, but eventually he was able to control himself as he hovered back to the centre of the test area, landing once again.

Hiro was unable to suppress the grin stretching across his features "Yeah, I can fly"

"Oh! Suit me up!"

Hiro stood as still as he could as mechanical arms screwed metal plates onto his body. Slowly but surely his armour formed around him. There he stood, encased in a suit of shining silvery steel.

"Oh, are you there?" Hiro asked as he fitted his helmet on.

"At your service" Oh spoke as Hiro's HUD activated "I am completely connected to the Mark II armour. We are online and ready"

"Import all preferences from home database"

"Already done sir"

Hiro gazed with childish glee as his suit came to life around him "This is awesome"

"I'm glad you think so sir" Oh responded with warmth "Hope you've had your fun. I need to initiate shut down while I run diagnostics"

"Actually" Hiro interuppted his AI "I want you to do a weather and ATC check, start listening in on ground control"

Oh was insistent on the suit not being ready "Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations to do before we even _think_ about trying to fly-"

"Oh" Hiro interuppted him again "Baby birds have to leap before they fly"

Oh gave an audible sigh "Very well"

"Engage thrusters in three...two...one"

And like that, the suit's thrusters roared into life with wings unfolded. Gently as he could, Hiro raced out of his garage and into the sky. Whooping with excitement, the young inventor pulled off several tricks in the sky as he raced above and around the city.

"It handles like a dream!" he laughed as he shot over the amusement park, startling one very fat sunburnt man into dropping his ice cream.

Suddenly, a crazy idea formed in Hiro's head "Oh, what's the record for the highest altitude?"

Oh was quick to respond "SR-71 Blackbird sir, at 85,000 feet"

Hiro grinned "Records are made to be broken" as he shot skyward "Come on baby, climb!"

To his credit, he came very close to the record. Unfortunately, he had overlooked a certain design flaw in his suit.

"Sir," Oh spoke "There's a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring"

Naturally, Hiro ignored him until the suit literally shut itself down. In a fairly cartoonish instant Hiro remained in the air long enough to realise his blunder before he began to fall.

"OH!" Hiro called to his assistant with a girlish scream of terror "We iced up! Deploy flaps! Oh, are you there?"

With the ground fast approaching and Oh unresponsive, Hiro reached for the manual switch located on the hip of the suit. Twisting the switch, the wings on his back folded and unfolded in a single fluid movement, breaking off a large amount of ice. Hiro had fallen to skyscraper height when the suit came back online. Jetting into overdrive, Hiro just narrowly avoided impact with the earth (and a speeding car) before shooting into the air. "Hell yeah!" he shouted as he raced back towards home.

Slowly to a hover, Hiro approached the rooftop of his home. Lowering himself till he was roughly two feet off the ground he said "Okay, I've had my fun. Kill power"

Hiro dropped back onto the ground... and went straight through it as he fell through the roof and all the other floors in the building, landing in the garage (on top of his favourite Shelby no less) flat on his back.

"Ow" he hissed.

There was the sound of inflating air, followed by "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

Hiro just sighed "Seven" he responded.

* * *

After and ice pack and a couple of ibuprofen, courtesy of Baymax, Hiro was clearing up his work station when he found the most curious object. An unlabelled parcel.

Tearing the paper off the box, Hiro found himself staring at his old nano-reactor, the device having being repurposed as a decoration inside a transparent glass cube. Below it, inscribed into the glass was a single sentence:

 _"The Brilliant Mind of Hiro Hamada"_  
 _-Tip_

Hiro smiled, an unfamiliar warmth coming to his cheeks. Tip had never given him a gift before.

He was glad to have her.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Sorry for the wait, guys.


	6. Chapter 6

**One Moment Shared, One Moment Ruined**

"So," Hiro began to log into his notes, ice pack all but duct-taped to the side of his head "The main transducer feels sluggish at 40+ altitude. Hull pressurisation is a problem. I'm thinking icing is the main factor"

"Very observational of you sir" Hiro was beginning to regret having Oh's voice ridiculously emotive. He was sassing him now "So what would you have me do to the design, seeing as you have developed a desire to travel to distant planets?"

"Change the suits metal for me, would you" Hiro asked "Try using a gold-titanium alloy, like the one they have in the satellites. That should keep it from icing up without any changes to the power-weight ratio"

"Of course. Would you like to see a potential model?"

"Sure"

While Oh worked on that, Hiro's attention was drawn to the television. "Tonights red-hot carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall where Hiro Hamada's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for LA's high society" said the young reporter.

"Hey Oh, are we invited to that?" Hiro asked

"I have no record of an invitation, sir" was Oh's reply

While they spoke, so did the reporter, and it seemed the topic had turned to Hiro himself "... hasn't been seen in public since his bizzare and highly controversial press conference. Some claim he's suffering from post-traumatic stress and has been bedridden for weeks. Whatever the case may be, no one expects an appearance from him tonight"

That last line made him smile. Hiro always loved to surprise people. "Hey Oh, is that done yet?"

"Right here sir" Hiro's computer revealed a new design for the armour. Physically, it looked exactly the same, with the only difference being the colour. That bothered Hiro.

"It's gold" he noted.

"Gold tends to be gold-coloured, sir" Oh commented.

"Just saying it's a little bit flashy. Don't you think?"

"What was I thinking?" (Seriously, how could a computer be so sarcastic? Hiro wondered) "You are usually so discreet"

"Give it a paintjob for me? Try purple and red" Hiro asked, smiling as the design changed "That's better"

"Yes, because purple is also very subtle"

"Shut up Oh. Make it. Paint it"

"As you wish" Oh conceded "Estimated completion time is five hours"

Hiro's gave a gap-toothed smile "Great, I have a party to crash anyway"

"Have fun sir"

* * *

Meanwhile, at the event, Callaghan was speaking with a reporter "Weapons manufacturing is only a small fraction of what Hamada Industries is about, and our partnership with the fire and rescue community..."

His speech trailed off as a certain young inventor came roaring up to the carpet in a certain silver audi. Emerging from his car like the prodigal man he was, Hiro shook hands and winked as he made a beeline towards his oldest friend "Hey!" he called, arms held outwards as if expecting a hug "What's the world coming to when a guy's gotta crash his own party?"

Callaghan returned his hug, chuckling "Hey kid. This is a surprise"

"I'll see you inside man" Hiro patted Callaghan on the shoulder and left.

"Hey," Callaghan caught Hiro's arm and whispered in to his ear "Try and behave alright, I think I have the board where I want them"

"No problems" Hiro smiled "Just a case of cabin fever. I'll just be here for an hour or so, then I'll head home"

Callaghan smiled "That's my boy" and let him on his way.

Inside, Hiro went straight to the bar. He was nursing a scotch when he was approached by a man he'd never met before.

"Mr. Hamada?" The large man asked

"The one and only" Hiro smiled

"Agent Reilly. Guerrilla Assault and Recon Division"

Hiro exhaled loudly as he took another drink "God, you need a new name"

"I get that a lot" Reilly stated, his expression never changing from the stoic one he currently wore. "Listen, I know this is hardly the time but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions and time can be a factor with these things. I'll be visiting Hamada Industries on the 24th at about seven. Could we speak then?"

Hiro was only partially paying attention. His gaze had been drawn in by the entrancing image of a familiar barbados-born woman in a beautiful dark orange dress "Tell you what. You got a deal" he interupted Reilly with a handshake "I'll have to speak with my assistant, but I'll do my best". And with that, he left to mingle.

Approaching the woman, he tapped on her shoulder with a smile "You look great! I almost didn't recognise you"

Tip spun round to face her boss, a surprised smile on her face "What are you doing here?"

"Avoiding the government" Hiro shrugged

"Did you come here by yourself?"

"Yeah. Where did you get that dress?"

"It was a birthday present"

"From who?"

"From you"

"From me?"

"Yes" Tip chuckled

Hiro found himself smiling even more "You want to dance?"

Tip's face immediately turned to adorable panic "What? No I-"

"Great!" Hiro took her hands and pulled her close to the centre of the floor. Holding her close as they slow-danced, Hiro couldn't help but notice the slightest flush of colour in Tip's face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Tip jumped as if she had been jolted "What? Yeah, I'm fine"

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No! I mean, no. No, I always forget to wear deodorant and dance with my boss in front of everyone I work with in a backless dress" She claimed in a single with a nervous (or as Hiro though, cute) smile.

"You look fine" Hiro assured her, before jokingly sniffing "Smell fine too"

Tip laughed, so Hiro wasn't too worried about being inappropriate.

"I could always fire you, if that'd make you more comfortable" he also suggested with a tilted smile.

Tip chuckled a bit "Honestly, I don't think you could tie your shoes without me"

"I'd last a week" he argued

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah"

"What's your social security number?"

Hiro pondered the answer for a while before speaking "Hmm... Five"

"Five?" Tip repeated with an amused smile

"Was I wrong?"

"No" Tip shrugged "Not really, you just forgot a few numbers"

"A few?"

"Yeah like, seven or eight"

They were both laughing now. "That's why I have you" Hiro smiled.

The two's dancing slowed to a crawl as they looked into each others eyes. Sound seemed to drown out for Hiro as he looked at Tip, wondering why he had never noticed how pretty her eyes were before. It wasn't until Tip dropped her gaze did he realise he had been staring.

"You want to go outside?" he asked "Get a little air?"

"Yes" Tip jumped up straight again "I need some air"

A few minutes later, the pair had managed to make their way to the nearest balcony.

"That was weird" Tip exhaled.

"What was?" Hiro asked her

"That. That..." she vainly gestured with an outstretched arm "Thing. That moment back there"

"What that, that was totally harmless"

"That wasn't harmless"

"Tip, we were dancing. No one was even watching"

"They were! Everyone I was working with was watching"

"I think you're feeling a bit paranoid. We just danced"

"It wasn't "just a dance"" Tip argued "You don't understand because you're you"

Hiro raised a single eyebrow but did not comment as Tip continued to ramble.

"Everyone knows who you are and how you are with women, which I'm not saying is bad, it's completely fine. But you know, then there's me, and you're my boss and then I'm dancing with you..."

"I don't think people are gonna think that" Hiro argued, but Tip just kept talking unabated

"And then that's bad, because that makes me look like the who's trying to... I mean we're here and I'm wearing this dress and then we were dancing like that and I... I..."

Tip had stopped talking and just stared at Hiro. The young man held her gaze, and found himself inexplicably drawn to her as she did to him. He found himself moving closer, taking in every detail of her; her scent, the green of her eyes, the shape of her lips, how she was wearing her hair loose and how he really liked that, the feel and warmth of her skin as he placed his fingers on her cheek, the pull of Tip hands on his suit sleeves...

Tip blinked slowly, as if emerging from sleep, and pulled away at the last moment "I... I think I need a drink"

Hiro almost sprung into movement "Yeah. Sure. Okay"

"Vodka Martini"

"Yeah"

"Very dry with olives, like, a lot of olives. At least three olives"

Hiro had gotten the drinks and was on his way back when a reporter ran into him.

"Hiro Hamada. Fancy seeing you here"

Hiro paused, trying to recall the young woman's name "Vicki?"

"Vidia" she corrected him

"Dammit"

"You have a lot of nerve, showing up here tonight" said Vidia. Hiro's silence compelled her to speak more "Can I get a reaction out of you, please"

"Uh, confusion. Confusion's my reaction, with a bit of panic"

"I'm referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity"

"Hey," Hiro shrugged "They just put my name on the invitation. I'm not responsible-"

"Are you still playing dumb?" Vidia snapped, seemingly genuinely irritated.

"Hey I was out of town for a couple of months in case you didn't hear" Hiro fired back

"Here" Vidia thrusted a collection of photos into his grasp "It's a town called Gulmira. Ever heard of it?"

Hiro took a look, flitting through the images of the town. It was a town full of destroyed buildings, dead bodies both human and animal alike and full of terrorists and weapons. Most disturbingly, there was Hamada weaponry, including a missile that looked far too much like a Phoenix to be a fake, and the sinister emblem of the Mononoke graffitied onto walls

"When were these taken?" Hiro asked

"Yesterday" Vidia answered

"I didn't approve any shipment"

"Well, your company did"

"I am not my company" Hiro snapped, his voice cold and hiding a simmering fury underneath. He marched away, taking the photos as he went to find answers. So he found Callaghan.

Callaghan was just waving away a few reporters when Hiro shoved the photographs into his hands "Have you seen these pictures?" Hiro asked him.

Callaghan gave him a quick look, and that was all Hiro needed to know. The old man knew about it. "Hiro..." he started

"What's going on in Gulmira?" Hiro demanded to know

"Hiro, you can't afford to be this naive" Callaghan claimed

"I'm not naive" Hiro argued "I was naive before. Back when there was a line. We said "This is the line. We don't cross this line. This is how we do business" Are we dealing under the table? Are we?"

A small horde of paparazzi killed their conversation as Callaghan pulled him into the photos. The old man wore a smile, but his words as he whispered into Hiro's ear were anything but jovial "Kid, who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you in the first place. It was the only way I could protect you"

With the cameras gone, Callaghan left, while Hiro was left angry, confused, and betrayed. His company was dirty, and his closest friend had personally taken away control from him. It took only a minute for Hiro to figure out what he had to do.

He was going to Gulmira.


	7. Chapter 7

**Middle East Action**

Hiro got to Gulmira within the hour. Armed with newly fitted weaponry, Hiro dropped into the heart of the remains of Gulmira, where Mononoke soldiers were still rounding up and segregating the civilians.

The first soldier barely had time to raise his rifle before Hiro sent him flying with an uppercut. Spinning to face whoever was trying to shoot him in the back, Hiro charged a blast of energy from the repulsor in his palm, sending the man flying back into the nearest wall with the force of a cannon blast. Hiro shot a few more men before turning to find that the remaining Mononoke had taken hostages. Women and children. They shouted warnings at Hiro as they pointed their guns at their prisoners. Hiro knew the odds. He dropped his hands and powered down his hand-cannons.

"Take aim" he told his armour's targeting software. Within the space of a few seconds, Hiro now had taken aim at all the Mononoke's heads, firing darts from hidden compartments on his shoulders. They all hit their marks, and the terrorists soundlessly fell. Not a single civilian casualty.

Hiro watched as a young boy broke from the arms of his mother and ran into the arms of a man slowly rising to his feet (his father presumably). The young inventor would have taken time to enjoy the moment, but alas he had other work to do. Scanning for other lifesigns, Hiro found another Mononoke agent hidden by a wall. Smashing his hand through the wall, Hiro dragged the man through the remains of the brickwork and took a good look at him, surprisingly recognising him. He was one of the Mononoke that had held him captive. How could he ever forget that beard?

Tossing the man to the civilians, Hiro spoke to them "He's all yours". Regardless of whether they understood him or not, Hiro took to the air and began to fly away, searching for the terrorists nearby stockpile... only to be shot out of the sky.

"Dammit" Hiro groaned as he pulled himself out of the crater he had made upon impact with the earth to find an honest-to-God tank taking aim at him. The tank fired a single shot, which Hiro casually leaned to the side and avoided before returning fire with an anti-tank missile from his wrist. Hiro took to the air again, not even waiting for the ensuing destruction of the tank before he began to open fire on the weapons. The resulting explosions could probably be seen from miles away. Hiro didn't cease fire with his repulsors until he was satisfied that everything was destroyed.

"Okay, I'm not getting anything on my scanners. How about you Oh? You picking up anything?"

"All targets destroyed, sir"

"Great. Let's go home"

Hiro flew away, happy with a job well done and hoping that Robin would be happy that he had defended his homeland.

* * *

Gogo, on the other hand, was not happy. Over a days work of organising reconnaissance and attack plans had all gone out within a few minutes. She had seen it all with satellite imagery. Something had just flown into Gulmira and torn the place apart and she couldn't figure out who was responsible for it.

"We ran an ID check and cross-referenced with all known databases. We have nothing" the soldier that had summoned her told her.

Gogo pinched the bridge of her nose as she thinked "Do we have any birds in the area?"

"We have two Raptors on patrol"

"Right. Send them to intercept. See if they can't get an eye on the thing" she suggested. "How did this thing not show up on radar?" she asked everyone in the room "Is it stealth?"

"No ma'am" responded one of men at the computers "It's tiny"

"We're thinking it's a UAV" said another.

"Colonel," the lead soldier spoke "What are we dealing with?"

Gogo wasn't certain... but she had a very good idea. "Let me make a call" she said. Moving the nearest soldier away from his station as used his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hiro"

"Who's this?"

"It's Gogo"

"Sorry, who?"

"Gogo" she repeated through gritted teeth.

"Speak up, I can't hear you" Hiro said over the sound of rushing wind

"What is that noise?"

"I'm driving with the top down"

"I need your help"

"Funny how that works huh?"

Gogo sighed. It appeared Hiro was going to be difficult. "Listen kid. We've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive. You know anything about that?"

"Nope. Is someone doing your job for you?"

"Why do you sound out of breath?"

"I was jogging in the canyon"

"I thought you were driving?"

"Right. I was, uh, driving out the canyon. Where I was jogging"

Gogo sighed and rolled her eyes "You absolutely sure you don't have any tech I should know about?"

"No"

"Good" she said, staring at the jets that had appeared on the cameras "'Cause I've got Raptors going after one and they're gonna blow it to kingdom"

"Right" Hiro's voice suddenly sounded panicked "I'll call you back"

* * *

Hiro had noticed the jets on his radar just before Gogo had revealed them to him.

"I'll call you back" he said to Gogo before hanging up and speeding away. Firing his jets to supersonic speed, Hiro cursed under his breath as his sensors detected he was being locked onto by missiles.

"Inbound missile" Oh warned him (which was kind of redundant).

"Flares!" Hiro commanded. Several flares managed to burst from his suit's hips seconds before the missile hit him, sending him flying out of the sky. Managing to regain his balance he took off again, but the fighter jets were still close on his heels.

Narrowly avoiding the machine-gun fire, Hiro commanded his suit "Deploy flaps!" and so he went he flying backwards behind his pursuers. Or at least that was the plan. He actually collided with one of the jets and found himself clinging to its belly.

"Oh," he sighed, out of breath and sore "Call Gogo"

"Connecting"

There was a small pause before Gogo picked up (she was always very punctual) "Hello?"

"Hi, Gogo. It's me" Hiro said with a bit of forced cheer.

"It's who?"

"No, it's me" Hiro stressed "The thing that you were asking about. It's me"

"Hiro," Gogo seemed to be gearing up for another lecture "This isn't a game. You can't send civilian equipment into an active war zone-"

"It's not a UAV, it's me"

Gogo's voice lost its frustration, now replaced with confusion "What are you talking about?"

"It's not a piece of equipment, it's a suit. I'm in the suit. It's me!" he yelled.

At that point the pilot must have realised he was on his jet, as he spun into a barrel roll until Hiro went flying off with an alarmed cuss.

He felt a thud as he went flying through the air, not realising until he stopped spinning that he had clipped one of the jet's wings and had destroyed it. The pilot had survived, but he was falling fast and his parachute wasn't deploying.

It took Hiro a second to weigh up the odds and sped down to him, determined to save his life.

"Sir," Oh warned "The F22 has reengaged. Recommend evasive manoeuvre"

"Oh, we keep going or he'll die!" Hiro told him.

A moment later, Hiro had caught up with the pilot and had a hold onto his seat. Not knowing how to deploy the chute normally, Hiro just punched. Thankfully, it worked, and the pilot went flying upwards, his parachute deployed.

Hiro sped away, satisfied with a job well down, whooping all the way.

"Hiro, you still there?" Gogo's seemed uncharacteristically concerned.

"Yep" Hiro grinned

Gogo sighed with relief "You crazy son of a bitch"

Hiro chuckled "You do care"

"You owe me a plane" she joked

He laughed at that "Technically, he hit me. So... You wanna come see what I'm working on?"

"No" Gogo said "It's probably best if I don't know"

"Suit yourself"

"So. What am I telling the press about this fiasco?"

"Training exercise" was Hiro's immediate answer "Isn't that the usual BS?"

"No, it's not that simple"

* * *

Tip was just listening to the news, hearing Gogo talk about some training accident in Afghanistan, when she went to check on Hiro. His bed hadn't been slept in, which wasn't too unusual, but the noises from the workshop definitely were.

"Ah! Watch it!" was Hiro's voice.

"It is a very tight fit, sir" came another. Wait, was that Oh?

Tip went down the stairs slowly, simultaneously worried and curious as to what she would find.

"Sir, the more you struggle the more this will hurt" said Oh

"Be gentle" Hiro said "It's my first time"

Tip walked through the door, to find Hiro strapped to a massive machine, mechanical arms attempting to remove his clothing.

"It was designed to come off. I don't understand why it's- ow! Hey!" Hiro complained

Tip noticed under closer inspection that Oh wasn't trying to take off Hiro's clothes, but a layer of metallic armour.

"Stop squirming" Oh snapped with a surprisingly amount of annoyance in his computerised voice.

"What's going on here?" Tip finally sopke up. Hiro's head snapped around to look at her, his expression looking like a six-year-old who was caught with his hands in the cookie jar. "Are those bulletholes?" she asked.

"Uhh..." Hiro's "deer in the headlights" look faded as he formulated a reply "Let's be honest, this isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing"

* * *

The Mononoke leader was waiting outside his tent, awaiting his vistor. His partner was never late, always on time, and would no doubt be eager to hear of their progress.

Right on schedule, a convoy of SUVs pulled up into the heart of the camp. A small group of armoured men emerged, along with their boss. Robert Callaghan.

"Welcome" the man greeted him without warmth

"Tabaqui" Callaghan greeted him with an equal lack of warmth "You've looked better" indicating to the livid red burn scar that covered a part of the man's bald head.

"Compliments of Hiro Hamada" he explained.

Robert chuckled without humour "If you'd just killed him like you were meant to then you'd still have a face"

"You paid us trinkets to kill a prince" Tabaqui argued

"Show me the weapon" Callaghan ordered him, apparently having ran out of patience.

"Your men will wait outside" Tabaqui told him, and walked into his tent. Callaghan gave the order and followed him inside.

Inside, Callaghan was shown the remains of Hiro's original armour, surprisingly intact for something dug out of a hole in the ground.

"His escape bore unexpected fruit" Tabaqui explained somewhat needlessly. "And this, this is only a first, crude effort. Hamada has managed to perfect the design. He has made a masterpiece of death. With even only a dozen of these, the Mononoke could rule all of Asia"

Callaghan briefly inspected the design, hoping to find what he was looking for. And he did. On the armour was a power cord that seemingly connected to nothing. Something that reached into the helmet, or the head.

"You dream of taking Hamada's throne" Tabaqui continued to speak "We have a common enemy" He went to sit down, and poured a few drinks "If we still in business, I will give you these designs, as a gift. And I hope, in turn, you will repay me with iron soldiers"

Callaghan stared at Tabaqui's offered cup and clapped a hand on the mans shoulder. Suddenly all Tabaqui could hear was a deafening whine, and he couldn't move.

"This is all you shall receive" Callaghan told him in accented punjabi. Pocketing the device he had just paralysed him with and removing his earplugs, Callaghan continued to speak to him in english "Technology. That was always your achilles' heel. Don't worry, it'll only last for fifteen minutes. I'll already be gone then"

Strolling out of the tent, Callaghan was happy to see that his own men had taken control of the camp, and all the Mononoke present were kneeling with hands on their heads.

"Good man" he told the closest soldier "Crate the armour and all the other equipment. Leave no traces we were here" Getting back into the car, Callaghan made a call as his men started shooting. "Set up the project underneath the reactor, codename Deathstrike. I want the data masked. Recruit our top engineers. I want a prototype as soon as possible"

Hiro Hamada had no idea who he was dealing with.

* * *

 **Authors Note**

So, confession.

The only reason this chapter came so quickly after the last one was because they were originally a single chapter, but I didn't think they meshed together really well so I split them up.

I am working on the next one. College is done so I should have more time on my hands now. I still don't have any idea on how long it'll take but I'll do my best to finish this soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Industrial Espionage**

Tip returned to check on Hiro the next morning, hopefully expecting everything to be back to normal. Hiro would be tinkering with a car engine or his latest invention, hurting himself in the process of course, with Baymax waiting on the sidelines. She would have to remind him of a new meeting, drive his latest fling out of the house, something, anything that he never bothered to do himself. How strange, she thought, that she had come to enjoy the mundanity of it all.

But lo and behold, when she came to his garage Baymax was checking him, but it was for marks left by bullets, for concussions caused by explosions. Hiro wasn't fiddling with the delicate parts of an engine, he was inspecting his suit and its weaponry.

When Hiro turned to face her, it wasn't with a cocky smile, full of the impish charm that she had come to expect and love. It was replaced with one more grim, with a seriousness so alien to her that it was honestly more concerning than anything.

"Hey," he greeted her with only the faintest smile "Are you busy? 'Cause I need you to go on an errand for me" He stood and walked to his desktop, picking something up "I need you to go to my office" he tossed a small USB flash drive to her "You have to hack into the mainframe so I can get all the recent shipping manifests. Put that into the computers USB port, it'll get you in. It'll probably all be under Executive Files. If it's not, then it's on a ghost drive, in which case you'll need to look for the lowest numeric heading"

It took a moment for Tip to gather her thoughts after the barrage that he had just thrown at her "And what... what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

"They're dealing under the table, Tip" Hiro explained "I have to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and I'm gonna destroy them"

"Hiro," Tip said "You know that I would help you with anything, like, anything at all, but I can't help you with this" And with that she put the drive down, turned on her heel and went to leave "I'm sorry"

"Are you serious?" Hiro was incredulous "You stood by my side all these years when I was making things that killed people, and now I'm trying to help people and you're walking out on me!"

"You're going to get yourself killed, Hiro!" Tip snapped "I don't want any part of that"

"I should already be dead" Hiro spoke, his voice quiet and sad as he absently tapped the reactor on his head "I didn't die. Better men died and I didn't. It had to be for a reason"

Tip stood there, taking in the sight of the young inventor's careless facade crumble before her. She guessed she should be honoured, seeing as how Hiro was comfortable to show his sensitive side to her.

"I'm not crazy, Tip. I know I kinda look like it, but I'm not. I've just figured out what I have to do. And I know, deep inside, it's the right thing to do"

Tip sighed in one deep breath, and took the drive off the desktop "Y'know," she said as she went to leave "You're all I've got too"

* * *

Getting into the office was easy enough, Tip was still one of the most important workers in the building. The problem was acting like she wasn't hiding something. Tip wasn't exactly the best at hiding her emotions, her abysmal poker scores said enough about that. Fortunately, there weren't that many people on the floor she needed to be on, otherwise they would have probably asked her why she was walking like she had a broom lodged in certain uncomfortable places. Slowly opening the office door, the young woman sighed with relief as she found it empty. Making sure the door closed behind her, Tip sat at the computer, plugged in the flash drive, and got to work.

Working almost on its own, the computer revealed nearly every hidden file in the Hamada mainframe, the files were opening so quickly Tip could only glimpse the file names and pictures and nothing else. "Phoenix", "Deathstrike", and many others flashed by before her eyes.

"What are you up to, Callaghan?" Tip muttered as she came across another file: a recorded message. Upon watching, she was horrified to find a group of armed men, terrorists, surrounding a bound Hiro. The man was bloodied and looked thoroughly beaten. It was their ransom video. Or at least that was what it looked like. Suspicious as to why such a video would be so extensively hidden, Tip set the computers translation software to decipher the man's speech. What he said told Tip all she needed to know:

"You did not tell us that the target you had paid us to kill was the great Hiro Hamada. As you can see, Robert Callaghan, your deception will cost you dearly. Our price has just gone up..."

"My God..." Tip gasped. She immediately set all the files to copy themselves onto her drive when she heard a voice at the door.

"So, what are we going to do about this?"

It was Callaghan.

It took all of Tip's will and acting ability (of which she sorely lacked) to look calm and collected as Callaghan strolled across the room and picked a bottle of expensive alcohol from the shelf and poured himself a generous glass.

"I know what you're going through, Tip" he smiled with a genial look, which Tip could only interperet as false.

"You want one?" he asked her, pouring another glass regardless. Tip took that brief moment to hide her drive under a newspaper and quickly change the computers screen back to its screen saver.

"I was happy he came home," Callaghan said once he strolled over to her, planting her glass next to her and taking a conspicuous look at the computer screen "It was like he was back from the dead. Only he never did, did he?" Callaghan's voice sounded so sad that Tip admittedly would have believed that he was genuine if she hadn't just watched the proof "Hiro never did come home. A part of him died in that desert. I just miss the boy I used to know, the one I called a son. Now I don't even know who he is"

"Well, he's a complicated person" Tip weakly offered. "He's been through a lot, but I... I think he'll be okay"

Callaghan just drank and stared "You're a very rare woman, Miss Tucci. I don't think I've ever told you that. Hiro doesn't realise how lucky he is"

"Thank you, sir" Tip gave a bashful, but forced smile. Rising to her feet, drink untouched, she carefully pulled the drive from the computer, folding the newspaper around it to hide it. "I best be leaving" she said, before slowly, but hurriedly, making her way to the door.

"Is that today's paper?" he called after her, making her freeze in her tracks.

"Uhh... yeah" Tip answered reluctantly.

Callaghan walked up to her, hand outstretched "Can I have it. I love the crosswords"

Tip looked at the paper, then at his hand, and back at the paper before handing it to him with forced cheer "Go ahead"

"Thank you" he said as he opened the door for her.

Tip left as quickly as she could without looking suspicious, taking a quick look at the drive in her hand. She had suddenly never been more grateful for the sleight-of-hand tricks she had learned as a child.

The impact of something solid brought her back to reality. "Miss Tucci" It was Agent Reilly. "Can I speak with you? We have that appointment after all"

"Sure" Tip said as she walked, pulling the government agent along by the arm "Walk with me. We have a lot to talk about"

She only prayed Callaghan hadn't realised what had happened.

* * *

He did.

After throwing his glass at the nearest wall, he had marched to his hidden facility and grabbed the head technician by the shoulder, all pretense of patience and friendliness wearing thin.

"Progress?" he asked the man

"Well, sir, we did what you asked, but it seems as though there's a little hiccup" the technician spoke a mile a minute with nervous energy.

"A hiccup?" Callaghan repeated.

"Yes. You see, the technology required to power the machine, well, simply put it doesn't exist"

Callaghan took a firmer hold of the mans shoulder and pointed to the fusion reactor less than five feet away from them "There's your technology" he said "I'm just asking you to make it smaller"

"Sir, that's impossible"

"HIRO HAMADA MANAGED IT IN A CAVE!" he roared, any semblance of patience now lost "WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!"

To his credit, the technician didn't burst into tears or soil himself. Rather, he responded with a shaky whisper "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not Hiro Hamada"

Callaghan released him. "Fine" he growled, "I'll get it for you"

The old man marched out the door, knowing full well what he had to do.


	9. Chapter 9

**Backlash**

Hiro was relaxing in his lounge when Tip called him. He only managed a quick "Wazzup?" before he found himself incapable of moving. All he could hear was a painful, high-pitched whine and an unnerving chuckle.

"Easy boy, easy. Just breathe for me. Attaboy" came Callaghan's voice.

The older man walked around the sofa so he could look Hiro in the eye, waving a small device in his face "You remember this one, right? It's a shame the government never approved. Think of all the ways one can use short-term paralysis"

Reaching into a bag, Callaghan pulled a small device and layed it against Hiro's reactor "You know son, when I ordered that hit on you, I was afraid I was killing the golden goose. But as it turns out..." Hiro gave a involuntary grunt as the magnet Callaghan activated started to pull the reactor out of his head "...I was quite lucky you survived that, 'cause you had one last golden egg to give me"

Hiro was still capable of moving his eyes, and so he met his old mentor's gaze. Callaghan's look was one of smug victory. Hiro's was burning fury.

"Do you think that just because you have an idea, that means it belongs to you?" Callaghan said mockingly, speaking as if Hiro were some dumb child "Your father gave us the atomic bomb. Imagine what the world would be like if he was as selfish as you" And with a savage tug, he tore the reactor from his head.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he chuckled, holding the reactor under the light. Callaghan sat down next to and through an arm around the frozen form of Hiro, his eyes alone conveying the agony he was enduring "Hiro, this thing, this thing right here, this is your magnum opus. Look at this masterpiece. This is your legacy, a new generation of weapons with this in at its heart. Weapons that will help steer this world back on course and put the balance of power back in our hands. The right hands"

The old man could barely hide his glee as he packed the reactor away in his bag "I wish you could see my prototype. It's not as... well, it's not as conservative as yours. It's too bad you had to involve Tip in all this. She was a nice girl, I would've preferred that she lived" And with that, he left.

It took all of Hiro's willpower to pull himself off the sofa and towards the elevator (he didn't have the strength for the stairs). Swaying and staggering like a drunken man, Hiro pratcically fell through the door as he caught sight of what he needed: Tip's gift; the old reactor.

He never made it, his legs giving out about halfway there. Hiro found it harder and harder to focus as the pain in his head became unbearable. Vainly reaching for the glass cube on his desk, only to knock it down with a smash on to the floor. His strength fading, Hiro could only lie there as he felt his body systematically fail.

"Hiro?" came a voice, calm and clear. Was it an angel?

"Hiro, look at me" With painful effort, Hiro opened his eyes and came face-to-face with his guardian angel. Never before had he been so glad to see his inflatable marshmallow friend.

"Do not attempt to move" Baymax instructed him "I will perform the surgery here"

* * *

"Hiro?" was Gogo's question to the empty expanse of his home "Hiro, are you here? Where are you?"

Gogo continued to search the house, growing more and more frantic with each empty room. Finally she came to the workshop, all but leaping down the stairs, and found Baymax just rising away from Hiro's unmoving form.

"Oh my God! Hiro!" Gogo ran to his side and shook him, despite Baymax's protests. "Hiro, can you hear me?"

"Hey, can you knock that off" Hiro groaned "I just got part of my head back on"

"Sorry" Gogo looked sheepish "Was worried for a sec"

"What are you doing here?" Hiro asked as he rose to his feet.

"Tip called me" Gogo explained "She was worried about you, saying that Callaghan had gone crazy or something and wanted to kill you. I thought she was being nuts but..."

"Tip wasn't "nuts"" Hiro said "Callaghan tried to kill me. Or rather he wanted the reactor in my head and didn't care whether or not I survived"

"Seriously? Callaghan?" Gogo was beyond shocked "I mean, this is Callaghan we're talking about"

"I wouldn't believe it either until tonight" Hiro sadly admitted "But he has a weapon, and I have to stop him"

Gogo grabbed his arm as he turned "Woah kid. Nuh-uh. You're not doing anything. Like you said, you just got your head put back together. You're not going anywhere"

"I'm the only one who can stop him" Hiro argued, tugging his arm out of her uncharacteristically loose grip.

"Says who?"

"Says me"

"Look Hiro, let the men in black deal with this stuff"

Hiro seemed a little confused by that statement "What?"

"Tip got in touch with that Reilly guy," Gogo explained "He's rounded up five of his secret agent goons and they've gone hunting for the old man. Tip's showing them where he's hiding. They'll get them"

Hiro's face turned from confusion to realisation to horror within seconds "That won't be enough" he ran away, shouting "Oh! Ready the suit!"

Gogo watched with childish fascination as Hiro's suit formed around him. It took an entire minute for the process to complete, and if Gogo was honest, it was worth every second.

"That's seriously freaking cool"

Hiro would have laughed at her expression if the situation was any different. Shoving the crumpled remains of his Shelby out of his way, Hiro poised himself so he could shoot out of the hole in the roof.

"Wait!" Gogo called to him before he launched off "What do you want me to do?"

"Just keep the skies clear" Hiro said before flying off.

Gogo waited until he was gone before she whispered to herself "I so want one"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the air, Hiro was speeding away as quickly as his suit would allow.

"Sir" came Oh's voice "I must warn you that this reactor was never desgined for such extensive energy output"

"What are the numbers?" Hiro asked

"If you're not careful, you risk draining the reactor of all of its power. This will not only render the suit inert, it will kill you"

Hiro weighed up the odds in his head.

"Noted"


	10. Chapter 10

**The Final Battle**

Outside Hamada Industries HQ, the night's quiet was shattered by the peel of tyres as several sleek black cars pulled up to the doors. Out emerged Reilly and five other agents, as well as Tip, who looked understandably uncomfortable.

The men marched forward as Tip opened each door in front of them with her access card, but eventually, there came a door she could not open.

"My key's not working" she told Reilly "The door won't open"

"Stand aside" Reilly instructed her, planting a small fist-sized device on the door.

"Is that some kind of lockpick device?" Tip asked

"In a sense" Reilly smirked, pushing Tip a little bit further away from the door. There was a BOOM and then the door was no more.

"Well, that's one way to do it" Tip said, her fingers in her ears.

"They called me "Wreck-It" in the academy" Reilly smiled, as they all walked in, guns raised. The corridors of the laboratory were almost pitch-black in the darkness. Tip had to be careful not to trip over any cables in the dark.

"Hey sir!" came the voice of one of Reilly's men "I think I've found it"

Tip followed the voice to find what looked like Callaghan's suit.

"So he was making a suit" Reilly said

"I thought it'd be bigger" Tip admitted. While the suit was taller than them all, it was only a head taller than Reilly.

"Spread out" Reilly ordered "See if we can't find anything else"

So the group split up, checking the dark corners of the room. Tip came across a strange sight: power cords hanging high from the ceiling, attached to nothing, yet swaying. And then, in the darkness, she saw a light. A small, faint glow.

Then the light rose up, and Tip realised that Callaghan had never left the room. This was the true suit.

It was a humanoid tank of a suit. Miniguns and cannons were strapped to its arms and shoulders. It was a machine built for war.

Tip screamed.

"Get out!" Reilly shouted at her "Open fire!" he yelled to his men.

Tip turned and ran, the sounds of gunfire and ensuing screams following behind her. When the shooting died down she feared it wasn't because she was too far away to hear. She didn't stop running until she was outside the building, and her phone rang.

"Tip?" It was Hiro!

"Hiro. Oh my God, Hiro, are you okay?"

"I'm fine" came his reply "How are-"

"Hiro, it's Callaghan!" Tip cut him off in a panicked rush "He's gone insane!"

"I know" Hiro said

"He's built a suit!"

"Tip, I want you to get out of there, you hear me?"

In that moment, the ground rumbled as Callaghan clawed his way out up through the very earth of the parking lot. Tip was frozen in place as the suit's blank face fixed stared into what felt like her soul.

"Where do you think you're going?" came Callaghan's booming voice.  
More terrified in that moment than she had ever been before, Tip stumbled and fell and screamed as one of Callaghan's arm-cannons whirred into life and pointed at her.

"Your services are no longer required"

He never fired, because at that moment Hiro came flying in with dive-bombing tackle yelling "CALLAGHAAAAAAN!" The ensuing crash knocked Callaghan straight off his feet, through several shipping containers and out on to the freeway, where they both went through a truck before they eventually stopped, another car bouncing off of Callaghan for added insult.

Growling, Callaghan picked up the car, the occupants screaming inside. "I love this suit" he said as he raised the car over his head.

"Put them down, Callaghan!" Hiro ordered him.

"Collateral damage, kid" Callaghan retorted.

Not wanting to harm the civilians, Hiro kept his arms low "Divert energy to chest piece" he instructed his computer. Responding, Hiro's suit fired a massive blast of energy from his chest instead of his hands, the force of which knocked Callaghan flying backwards.

Hiro lunged forwards to catch the car, successful in his attempt. Unfortunately, his suit wasn't as strong as Callaghan's and he could feel the strain the weight of the car was putting on him. Not to mention the fact that the driver hit the accelerator the minute they touched the ground and Hiro was unceremoniously ran over.

"Ow," he hissed as he got back to his feet "Stupid, ungrateful-"

His statement was left unfinished as Callaghan came flying in armed with a motorcycle, smacking him across the freeway like the bike was a bat and he was its unfortunate ball. Hiro groaned as he hit another car and tried to struggle to his feet, only for Callaghan to charge and kick him again.

"For thirty years, I've been holding you up!" Callaghan as he picked the younger inventor and threw him back on to the ground before stomping on him "I built this company from nothing!" He picked him up again and threw him through a bus "Nothing is going to stand in my way, least of all you" A large missile unfolded from his shoulder as he took aim and fired, destroying the bus in a single fireball.

Hiro survived, but was flown into the sky, only managing to activate his thrusters when he was a few feet off the ground.

"Impressive!" Callaghan chuckled as Hiro took to the air "You've upgraded your armour. But guess what kid, I've made some upgrades of my own!" The parts of Callghan's feet clicked and spun until he too flew skyward after Hiro, his massive thrusters spilling smoke and fire behind him.

"Sir," spoke Oh in Hiro's ear "Callaghan's suit can fly"

"I can see that, Oh" Hiro replied "Take us to maximum altitude"

"Sir, with only 15% power, the odds of us reaching that-"

"I know the math! Just do it!"

And so the race began, Hiro racing as fast as his thrusters would allow him with Callaghan in hot pursuit.

"Hiro, power is now at 13%" Oh warned him.

"Keep going!" Hiro commanded him

"11%..."

"Climb!"

Hiro could feel it now, his jets were starting to lose power, he was slowing down. Callaghan, on the other hand, was just starting to speed up.

"7% power sir"

"Just leave it on the screen!" he snapped.

At that point Callaghan caught up, grabbing Hiro by the ankle and slowing him so he could grab him by the neck "Nice try, Hiro, but my suit is more advanced than yours in every way!"

If Callaghan could have seen under his mask, he would have seen Hiro's smirk and realised that he had fallen into a trap "Oh really? How'd you solve the icing problem?"

"Icing problem?" was all Callaghan said before his suit stopped working.

"Might want to look into it" Hiro smugly quipped before bringing his fist down on Callaghan's head, knocking him out of the air.

Hiro hovered there for a moment, savouring his victory until he was brought to his senses by Oh's voice "Uhh, sir..."

"Yeah?"

"2% power"

That's when his thrusters cut out.

"SHIIIIIIIIT!"

"Now running on emergency back-up power!" Oh announced, his alarmed voice barely audible over Hiro's screams. This allowed Hiro's suits to spasmodically flare back into life, slowing his fall and turning what should have been a lethal fall into a painful, but survivable, crash.

"Urrrgh" Hiro groaned as he landed on HQ's roof "Tip? Are you there?"

"Hiro! Oh my God, are you okay?"

"I'm almost out of power" he told her as began manually dismantling his armour "I've gotta get of this thing. I'll be right there"

CRASH went something him. "Nice try!" It was Callaghan. His suit was still working.

Hiro managed to duck under his swing and opened fire, only to realise he had removed the glove on the hand he was attempting to use.

"Ah, dammit hindsight" he muttered as Callaghan's next punch sent him flying. Jumping back to his feet, Hiro used his thrusters to try and land a blow on his opponents head, only to be caught by Callaghan's killer embrace.

Hiro could feel the pain of Callaghan's armour slowly crushing his own "Weapon status?" he asked his AI through gritted teeth

"Repulsors offline. Missiles offline..." Oh listed.

"Flares!" Hiro commanded.

Every flare within the suit went off at once, blinding Callaghan and forcing him to release Hiro.

"Very clever Hiro" Callaghan muttered as he tried to search for the young inventor in the smoke, his half-blinded eyes only making it more difficult.

Hiro had managed to take cover and hide, although he knew it was only a matter of time before the older man would find him "Tip?"

"Yes?"

"I need you go and overload the reactor and blast the roof"

"What? How am I meant to do that?"

"Go to the central console and open up all the circuits. I'll let you know when I'm off the roof. You'll hit the master bypass button and it'll fry everything up here"

There was a brief moment of silence, followed by Tip's voice saying "Okay. I'm going in now"

"Make sure you wait till I'm off the roof" Hiro told her "I'll try and buy you some time"

Sneaking up behind Callaghan, Hiro pounced on to the larger suit, perching himself on its shoulders "This looks important" he noted aloud before pulling some wires out of Callaghan's neck.

"I can't see!" Callaghan thrashed and grabbed ahold of Hiro and threw him across the roof, taking his helmet off in the process.

Hiro got back to his feet as Callaghan removed his own helmet.

"Y'know," Callaghan said, crushing Hiro's helmet in his hand "I never had a taste for this sort of thing, but I must admit, I'm deeply enjoying the suit!" He continued to speak as he marched towards the young inventor "You finally outdid yourself Hiro. You would have made your father proud!"

Drawing the minigun from his arm, Callaghan opened fire. Hiro managed to protect his face from any bullets, unfortunately the glass he was standing on broke under the storm, and Hiro fell, holding onto a steel beam so he wouldn't fall to the ground.

"Hiro!" Hiro could hear Tip's alarmed cry below. He must have been hanging directly over the reactor. If he fell, he would definitely die.

"You know son, it's kind of ironic" Callaghan said "You tried to rid the world of weapons, and you wound up creating its greatest one! And now... I'm going to kill you with it" From his other arm unfurled a rocket launcher that fired and missed "Damn, you tore out my targeting system"

Ultimately it didn't matter. With the sheer number of missiles Callaghan had it would only be a matter of time before one would land its mark.

"Tip!" Hiro called down to the woman below "Hit the button!"

"You told me not to!" she called back "You had to get off the roof first!"

Another missile flew, this one landing much closer.

"Just do it!" Hiro yelled

"You'll die!"

The next missile's explosion was close enough to dislodge him. Hiro was now only holding himself up with one hand "Push it, dammit!"

So Tip did. The reactor overloaded and released a massive shockwave of energy that sent Hiro flying. Callaghan was hit too, his bulkier and heavier armour taking the full brunt of the shock as Callaghan screamed in pain. Falling forward and through the hole in the roof, Callaghan landed in the reactor and he, his armour and the reactor all died at once in a massive electrical fireball.

Hiro was still on the roof. He wasn't moving. He was barely breathing. The only signs of life came from the reactor in his head, its blinking, failing light desperately trying to stay alive...


	11. Chapter 11

**The Aftermath and the Epilogue**

Thankfully, our hero did survive. In fact, the very next day while he was preparing to speak to reporters he was reading about his exploits in the newspaper.

""Megabot" is a little unimaginative, don't you think?" he asked Reilly (who had survived last night with only a broken arm), who was standing to his side while Tip attempted to hide a bruise on his face with subtle touches of makeup "I mean, I know they're paparazzi but it seems lazy even for them"

"Iron Man was taken" Reilly stated, handing him some cards "That's your cover story. Read that to the press, everything should be fine"

Hiro gave the cards a quick read. The story was believeable, if a bit dull. He was "on a yacht" and therefore "only knew what was in the paper""

"So what do I say about Callaghan?" he asked the agent.

"He went on vacation" Reilly claimed, the lie passing his lips with a small smile "Private flights have such poor safety records, honestly anything could happen"

Hiro was suddenly hoping he'd never cross the government agent. If he did, he was afraid he would just disappear and know one would ever know.

"All finished here" Tip announced. Hiro thanked her as he stood.

"And what about this?" Hiro gestured to one of the cards ""The robot was my bodyguard", you honestly think people will buy that?"

"This isn't my first dance" Reilly replied "I've been doing this longer than you can imagine. Take my word, they'll buy it"

Hiro nodded and left to read and try and memorise the cards, while Tip went to speak to Reilly as the man turned to leave.

"Agent Reilly," she said "I just wanted to say thanks for everything"

"It was no issue, Miss Tucci" he smiled in response "Rest assured, you will be hearing from us again in time"

"From the Guerrilla Assault and-"

"Just call us G.A.R.D" he smiled "It's easier"

And with that he left, nodding in greeting as he passed Gogo on the way out.

"They're waiting for you kid" she called to Hiro.

"'Kay" he said as he went to follow her, only for Tip to stop him.

"Let me just finish up here" Tip said as she helped him into his suit jacket.

"You know," Hiro spoke "It's a shame I'm not this Megabot guy. Because if I was I would have this awesome girlfriend, she'd know my secret identify and she'd always be super worried about me but would also be really proud of me because she knew deep down I was a hero"

"And who'd be that lucky girl?" Tip asked

"Well, I've been thinking," Hiro said "About that... moment we had back in that party" Hiro turned to face his assistant.

"What moment would that be?" Tip asked in a tone that suggested that she actually knew what he meant.

"You know, we were dancing, then we talked..."

"Did we?"

"Yes, we did. And I think we had a moment"

"Hmm..." Tip made a face like she was trying hard to recall the details. All the sake of theatricality. Hiro knew she remembered "Oh, you mean when we were on the balcony..."

"Yes"

"And then we talked..."

"And then we had that moment, and we leaned in, kind of like what you doing now"

"Yeah"

"And then you went to go get drinks..."

"Yeah"

"And you never came back..."

Hiro's face became slightly more sheepish at that point "Ah"

"And you left me there, on that balcony, for the rest of the night. You mean that moment?"

"Yeah" Hiro awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

Tip smiled at him. It was a small, teasing smile that Hiro decided he really liked. She rubbed his cheek with her thumb "Will that be all, Mr. Hamada"

Hiro returned her smile, a warm feeling in his chest "That will be all, Miss Tucci"

So Hiro left and joined Gogo in front of the press.

"And now," Gogo spoke "Mr Hamada has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you"

She stood aside to let Hiro take the stand "It's, uh, been I while since been up here, so I'm going to just stick to my cards this time" he announced jokingly to instill a bit of humour into the crowd. And so, he began to read the cards:

"There has been speculation that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop-"

"I'm sorry, Mr Hamada," Vidia Clarion spoke up, interuppting "But do you honestly expect us to believe that a bodyguard in a suit conventiently appeared, despite the fact that you-"

"I know that it's a little confusing" Hiro retorted "It's one thing to question the official story, but it's another thing altogether to make wild accusation or insinuate that I'm some kind of superhero"

"I didn't say you were a superhero" claimed the reporter.

Hiro's eyebrows rose a little as he spoke "You didn't?"

A shake of the head was her response.

"Well, uh, that's good" Hiro said "Because that would be completely outlandish and uh," adding a quiet "fantastic" under his breath, before clearing his throat and speaking again "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. I've got this laundry list of character faults, all the mistakes I've made, all largely public-"

Gogo leaned in at that moment and whispered in his ear "Just read the cards"

"Yeah, okay" Hiro muttered. Clearing his throat, he began to read the cards again "The truth is..."

He found that he couldn't read anymore. He looked out at the small sea of reporters, to his closest friend and his thoughts went to Tip backstage. It occurred to him that the eyes of the public, his image probably wasn't the best. He realised... he did want to be liked, not for being a playboy rich kid (God knows that was fun) but if he could be a hero, well, he really wanted to be a hero deep down.

Screw it.

"The truth is... I am Megabot"

The reporters all stood at once, their voices and cameras going off in unison.

Hiro was going off-script. And he'd be damned if he didn't admit he was going to have some fun with it.

* * *

 _2 weeks later_

It was late in the evening when someone broke into his home. Or well, technically they didn't break in, nothing was broken, but Hiro was not expecting them regardless.

Hiro had walked through his door, announcing his arrival to Oh as usual, when he went through to the lounge and found a stranger standing by his piano, looking out the window to the horizon.

The person turned to face him and Hiro realised the person was a woman. A tall, strikingly beautiful woman wearing a combination of leather and kevlar, with a short bob of blonde hair that fell over dark blue eyes. He was also drawn to the unmistakeable sight of the handgun strapped to her thigh.

""Megabot", really?" she said in a tone that suggested she didn't care for the name "You think you're only superhero in the word, Hamada" she chuckled a little "You've only become part of a bigger universe"

"Who are you?" Hiro asked her.

"Tamora Jean Calhoun, the director of G.A.R.D" she answered.

"I'd like to talk to you about the Guardian Program"

* * *

 **Authors Note**

So that's that finally done. It's been a long time coming, and I thank everyone who was patient enough to stay till the end. For that, I thank you, and I thank everyone who favorited and followed this and myself.

So I have this huge plan to make my own version of the MCU, starting with this one. This may not actually come to be, but I'm going to try my best to make it happen.

So thanks again. Till next time.


End file.
